Richa Jogi declared a BSP candidate

Putting speculations to rest, Richa Jogi has been declared a BSP candidate, who will be in fray from Akaltara Assembly constituency.

Richa is the daughter-in-law of former chief minister of Chhattisgarh and Janata Congress Chhattisgarh (J) supremo Ajit Jogi

This comes after Richa and Geetanjali Patel joined the BSP on late Friday night.

Geetanjali was earlier declared as a JCC (J) candidate from Chandrapur.

After the BSP and JCC(J) allied, Chandrapur seat was given to the BSP but Geetanjali will fight for it on a BSP ticket.

On late Friday night, the BSP released its second list of candidates for the second phase of the polls in the state.

The list named 12 people: BSP state president Omprakash Bachpayi would be in election fray from Navagarh, while sitting MLA Keshav Prasad Chandra has been retained from Jaijaipur seat, Shyam Tandon from Bhilaigarh, Rameshwar Kaiwarth (Nishad) from Kasdol, Arvind Khatkar will be in fray from Sarangarh, Richa Jogi from Akaltara, Geetanjali Patel from Chandrapur, Kanhaiya Lal Sahu from Kurud, Bhojran Gaurkhede from Raipur West, Chaitram Raj from Pandariya, Chabilal Ratre from Saraipali and Deenanath Prasad from Bhilai Nagar Assembly constituency.

Reacting to the developments, Richa's husband, Amit Jogi said, " BSP-JCC (J) are two parties but have one heart. Richa represents symbol of unity of both the parties."

"The parties showcase a relationship of a sister and a brother, having similar ideology and using its massive mass base it will be forming a government in state," Amit, the MLA from Marwahi, said.

"Election is fought to win. In some places, the foot hold of elephant is strong while the impact of plough is strong in others. Based on this the strategy has been made. The need of hour was that mass base should not split. The decision has been welcomed by Akaltara residents," he said.

After her marriage, Richa hasn't been politically active.

Ever since the JCC(J) was formed, she became an active member and participated in contact programmes and public meetings.

She was also nominated as the incharge of Rajnandgaon Assembly constituency after Ajit Jogi had declared to fight the election against Chief Minister Raman Singh.