BHARATIYA Janata Party (BJP) Central Election Committee has put its bet on a seasoned politician Brahmanand Netam, son of Chhattar Singh Netam in the fray for the Bhanupratappur by-election.

BrahmanandaNetam, a native of the village Kasawahi of Charama Block, has held multiple posts including that of the BJP Charam Mandal Vice-President, Sarpanch of Kasawahi and as the President of Shaktikendra.

Brahmananda’s venture into state politics began when he was elected as an MLA of the Bhanupratappur constituency in 2008. Brahmananda had defeated Manoj Mandavai by a margin of 15479 votes. Manoj Mandavi had fought as an independent candidate in the 2008 State Assembly Election. Indian National Congress’s Ganga Potai could secure only 24352 votes. Brahmananda later was made the National Working Committee member of Yuva Morcha in 2010 and BJP MajdoorMahasangh National Secretary in 2012. Brahmananda is presently the state vice-president of BJP Schedule Tribe Morcha.

BJP State President Arun Sao stated that BJP will take up the Bhanupratappur by-election very seriously and the people of Bhanupratappur will extend their support to BJP and its candidate Brahmananda will secure a landslide

victory.

The by-election of Bhanupratappur was necessitated after the untimely death of the sitting MLA and Deputy speaker in the Chhattisgarh State Assembly Manoj Mandavi and is seen as a great opportunity for the BJP to test the water ahead of the State Assembly Election next year.