RAIPUR: Senior Congress leader and Deputy Chief Minister T S Singhdeo, the present Maharaja of the erstwhile Surguja state, is among the six royal family members seeking election to the state legislative assembly in Chhattisgarh.
Singhdeo was one of the aspirants for the chief ministerial post after the Congress wrested power in the 2018 elections. He is testing his electoral waters again from Ambikapur against Bharatiya Janata Party's new face, Rajesh Agrawal, who joined hands with the saffron party, quitting INC ahead of the 2018 assembly polls.
Ambica Singhdeo, who belongs to the royal family of Koriya, is the niece of former Madhya Pradesh minister Ramchandra Singhdeo, who later served as Chhattisgarh's first Finance Minister. She had defeated BJP's Bhaiyalal Rajwade in Baikunthpur in the 2018 polls. Once traditional rivals are now facing the electorate.
The BJP has nominated two members of the influential Judeo royal family of Jashpur in the Sarguja division. Prabal Pratap Singh Judeo, the son of the late Dilip Singh Judeo, shot into the limelight with his "ghar-vapsi" campaign to reconvert Christians into the Hindu fold.
Dilip Singh Judeo's father, Vijay Bhushan Judev, who was the king of the Jashpur princely state, had also served as a Lok Sabha MP. Judeo is locked in a tough triangular contest in Kota with the sitting legislator Dr. Renu Jogi (JCC-J), the wife of former Chief Minister Ajit Jogi, and Atal Shrivastava of the Congress. Similarly, Dilip Singh Judeo's daughter-in-law, Sanyogita Singh, the wife of the late Yudhvir Singh Judeo, is contesting for the Chandrapur constituency where she had unsuccessfully contested last time.
Devendra Bahadur Singh of the erstwhile Gond royal family of Phuljhar is a Congress nominee and is seeking election from the Basna constituency. The four-term MLA had served as a minister of state in the Ajit Jogi government from 2000 to 2003. He is up against BJP's Sampat Agrawal.
While both the Congress and BJP have fielded royal heirs, the Aam Aadmi Party has also put forward one such nominee. Khadgraj Singh, hailing from the erstwhile Lohara princely state in Kabirdham district, was earlier associated with the BJP and the Gondwana Gantantra Party from Kawardha. Senior Congress leader and Forest Minister Mohammad Akbar and BJP's new face, Vijay Sharma, are contesting from this constituency.
