Tribal leader Paikra is new C’garh BJP chief

Tribal leader Ramsewak Paikra,a former legislator,has been elected unopposed as the president of the Chhattisgarh unit of the ruling BJP. The party has continued with its practice of entrusting the state’s organisational responsibility to a tribal leader ever since it came to power in December 2003.

For the first time,a section of leaders belonging to the Other Backward Classes (OBC) sought to stake their claim for the party post,arguing that OBCs constituted 52 per cent of the state’s population. The OBC leaders claimed it was wrong on part of the BJP to portray Chhattisgarh as a tribal-dominated state as the Scheduled Tribes (STs) constituted only 32 per cent of the state’s population. Though the move was led by former Union minister Ramesh Bais,BJP’s chief whip in the Lok Sabha,the party leadership managed to convince them to accept a tribal as the state party chief.

Paikra (48),now a member of Sarguja zila panchayat,had emerged as the unanimous choice for the post after the state leaders’ meet party’s national president Nitin Gadkari in New Delhi last week.