The phenomenal win of the Congress in Chhattisgarh is likely to catapult PL Punia, general secretary in charge of the state and the man credited with building the party from the grassroots up and ultimately destroying the BJP bastion, into the top echelons of his party’s hierarchy. From a mid-level leader, he is likely to find a place among seniormost leaders as the party gears up for the 2019 general elections. 

Punia was made general secretary and in-charge of Chhattisgarh in July 2017, almost 18 months ahead of the assembly elections. In Chhattisgarh, Congress had an OBC president in Bhupesh Baghel and Punia, a Dalit, was given charge to attract the scheduled caste (SC) voters. There are 11 SC reserved seats in Chhattisgarh and in 2013, BJP won 10 of them while Congress could win only one. 


However, this time, Congress won 8 out of 11 seats and the BJP couldn’t win any SC seat. Two seats were won by the BSP and one seat went to Ajit Jogi’s Janta Congress. 

Party leaders from Chhattisgarh told ET that this was achieved through the sheer hard work of Punia who was involved right from candidate selection to campaign to booth management. “Usually, parties deploy Dalit leaders in SC reserved seats. But Puniaji strategically also focused on other castes in the constituency.”