Wrong selection of candidate has cost Congress the insurgency-hit Bastar (ST) parliamentary constituency, bypoll to which was held on May 8, senior party leaders here concede.
The party high command had chosen MLA from Konta Assembly seat, Kawasi Lakhma, said to be former chief minister Ajit Jogi’s protégé, over senior tribal leader and co-founder of Salwa Judum, anti-Naxal vigilante force formed in Bastar, Mahendra Karma, as the Congress nominee to fight the crucial byelection.
Party sources said Mr Jogi had reportedly given the impression to the Central party leadership that Mr Karma’s selection would send a wrong signal to the tribals in the Maoist stronghold of Bastar, forcing them to distance themselves away from Congress either out of fear of Maoist threat or for their leanings towards the outlawed CPI (Maoist). However, the ground situation was totally different; a senior party leader said here.