However, in Polls '98, the OBCs - who form 40 per cent of the population - are increasingly assertive. And there has been an awakening among the SCs and the STs, who add up to just under one-third of the population.

``We're going to call a meeting of our community on the last day before polling and give a directive to the Kurmis to vote for a candidate of our community,'' says Manu Verma of village Nardaha who also heads the Kurmi community there. Such last-day meetings of different caste groups aren't new, what is new is their resolve.

The OBCs are not happy at the Congress decision to field seven Brahmin candidates in the nine general seats in Raipur district. The Congress used to prop four tofive Brahmins here in every election and V C Shukla sees nothing wrong in this. He swung these tickets in the Congress Working Committee by aligning with Digvijay Singh. Reason: Both wanted to cut out those like Ajit Jogi, who is emerging as a tribal leader in the Chhatisgarh region. Arjun Singh, too, went along since he wanted a ticket for his son.

Nardaha village falls in Mandir Hasod constituency, the smallest in the State. Kurmis are upset at the Congress decision to repeat Satyanarayan Sharma, a Minister in the Digvijay Singh government, who is pitted against Shyam Bais, a Kurmi and a brother of Ramesh Bais, Central minister. It is a different matter that Sharma is popular in his constituency. He has nursed it and people say that whenever there is a marriage, birth or an accident or death, he or his associates are present. With just 65,000 voters and 75 villages, Mandir Hasod is an easy constituency to look after.

In neighbouring Dhariswan, the Congress has fielded a Brahmin, denying a ticket toChatrapal Sirmour, a Kurmi, because he was a Jogi supporter. Sirmour is the grandson of Khubchand Beghel, who had at one time been involved in the movement for a separate Chhatisgarh state. This too has annoyed many of the Kurmis, and improved the prospects of the sitting BJP candidate, a Kurmi. In Bilaspur district, the Congress has given three adjacent seats to Rajputs and this too has become a talking point in the area.

The OBC awakening is not leaving the BJP untouched. Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee's niece, Karuna Shukla, a sitting MLA, is fighting with her back to the wall in Baloda Bazar, also in Raipur district. The BJP leaders admit that it is a ``tough seat'' because of the OBC factor. Purushotam Sahu, a backward leader who was a claimant for the BJP ticket here, has revolted and is contesting as an Independent. In Abanpur too, the BJP has a rebel Sahu on its hands.

The Kurmis, who were at one time with the Congress - the late AICC spokesman Chandulal Chandrakar represented them inChhatisgarh - have in recent months moved towards the BJP. So have the Sahus, who are `telis'. The Yadavs and Nishads are more with the Congress.

It is in deference to the growing consciousness of the tribals in the State that both the BJP and the Congress were forced to nominate tribals as party chiefs in Madhya Pradesh. The BJP has already projected Anand Kumar Sai as the Chief Minister of Chhatisgarh when the new state is formed and if the BJP gets a majority in the region.

Yet another manifestation of tribal awakening is seen in Sarguja district in Chhatisgarh. The Congress has over the years balanced the ``palace faction'' in Ambikapur with those opposed to the royal family in the distribution of tickets. But this time, eight out of the nine tickets in Sarguja district, all of them reserved seats, have been cornered by the ``palace''. This has led to a revolt inside the Congress and the formation of a new party, the Sarguja Vikas Congress, which is giving the official Congress a goodfight.

Congress leaders here complained to Sonia Gandhi about the social imbalance in ticket distribution when she came to Raipur and she had expressed her surprise at it. The Congress has, however, fielded 87 OBC candidates in the State.

Arjun Singh had made a case for a Backward chief minister when Digvijay Singh took over five years ago, and subsequently Subhash Yadav was made Deputy Chief Minister. But the OBCs, Dalits and tribals, who were satisfied with tokenism earlier, increasingly want their due share in the political setup. Along with the minorities, they total 93 per cent of Chhatisgarh's population.

It is a paradox that while there is growing awareness in these communities, and this includes the SCs, the Bahujan Samaj Party which first raised the cry, Vote hamara raj tumhara nahin chalega appears to be on the decline in Chhatisgarh. The BSP pressure had forced other parties to give greater representation to these communities.

Besides the exodus of top leaders from the BSP, theparty's image of striking deals with mainstream parties has also done some damage. Says Narsingh Mandal, who contested from Raipur for the Lok Sabha in February 1998 but was expelled for hobnobbing with the Congress: ``The trouble is that the BSP has become a congregation of robbers. At the top level, they make deals but down below they force principles on their followers.''