In the upcoming Chhattisgarh Assembly elections, Congress has decided to field former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s niece Karuna Shukla against chief minister Raman Singh.
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Shukla, a former BJP MP will be contesting from Rajnandangaon constituency. Congress had recently announced a list of 12 candidates for the first phase of elections which are scheduled to be held on 12th November. She was the Lok Sabha MP in the 14th Lok Sabha from Janjgir constituency but lost the 2009 elections to Congress’ Charan Das Mahant. She resigned from the BJP in October 2013 and fought 2014 Lok Sabha elections from Bilaspur constituency in Chhattisgarh, which she lost to BJP’s Lakhan Lal Sahu.
In August, following Vajpayee’s demise, Shukla had accused the BJP of playing politics over his death for immersing his ashes in rivers across the country. Vajpayee’s other niece and Shukla’s cousin Kanti Mishra had responded to her criticism and said that Vajpayee belonged to the nation and not just to Shukla or herself.