"I look forward to possibility of Vijay Baghel winning polls from Patan": BJP leader Raman Singh

Raipur (Chhattisgarh) [India], August 18 : Chhattisgarh's former chief minister and BJP national vice-president, Raman Singh on Friday said that he looks forward to the possibility of BJP MP Vijay Baghel's victory from Patan constituency against Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel in the upcoming assembly elections in Chhattisgarh.
This comes after BJP on Thursday released its first list of candidates from Chhattisgarh and fielded its Lok Sabha member Vijay Baghel against his nephew, Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel, from the Patan constituency in the upcoming Chhattisgarh Assembly elections.
The BJP leader said, "Vijay Baghel has won the Lok Sabha election from Chhattisgarh with the maximum number of votes and has defeated Bhupesh Baghel once in the Vidhan Sabha. Certainly, the election of Patan will be tremendous this time and I look forward to the possibility of Vijay Baghel winning polls from Patan."
Asserting the reason behind the announcement of 21 candidates of BJP from Chhattisgarh even before the poll schedule was announced, the former CM said that it would help the candidates to reach out till the last booth and contact the public directly.
"The reason behind declaring the list was that the candidate gets enough time to reach out till the last booth, our candidate should go directly to the public. The candidates are selected based on the possibilities of their victory," he said.
Earlier in the day, BJP MP Vijay Baghel lashed out at CM Baghel, calling him a "cheater, fraud, and a liar".
Describing his imminent electoral contest as an "interesting fight" against a "corrupt" chief minister, Vijay Baghel told ANI, "It is going to be interesting to fight against a cheater, fraud, liar and a corrupt chief minister."
Coming down heavily on his distant nephew, the BJP MP said CM Baghel has betrayed the trust of voters in the Patan Assembly segment.
"The people of Patan reposed their electoral trust in Bhupesh Baghel five times but he betrayed their mandate every time. The people are regretting their decision now amid rising cases of murder, rape, and corruption in the state," the BJP MP said.
Talking up his chances of upstaging his distant kin in the upcoming Assembly elections, Vijay Baghel thanked party leaders for pitting him against the chief minister in the Patan Assembly segment.
"We will win this election. I'm thankful to the party leaders for giving me the opportunity to fight the chief minister, who also happens to be my distant relative, from Patan. It will be an interesting contest," the BJP MP added.
The 21 member BJP first list for the 90-member Chhattisgarh assembly includes five women candidates — Laxmi Rajwade, Shakuntala Singh Porthe, Sarla Kosaria, Alka Chandrakar, and Geeta Ghasi Sahu.
In Chhattisgarh, 11 of the 21 seats for which candidates were declared are reserved for Scheduled Tribes (ST) and Scheduled Castes (SC), while the remaining 10 are for candidates from the general category.
Five states — Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Telangana and Mizoram — will go to the polls by the end of this year.