Dehradun: Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel has been summoned to the national capital a second time this week by the Congress party’s high command as the power struggle between the CM and state Health Minister T.S. Singh Deo intensified Thursday.
Baghel, who was in Delhi Tuesday, had returned Wednesday after a series of meetings with former party chief Rahul Gandhi and other senior party leaders.
Amid speculation of a growing rift within the state unit, several of the ruling party MLAs also arrived in Delhi to express their solidarity with CM Baghel. Meanwhile, Singh Deo has stayed put in Delhi after the Wednesday meetings.
The two party leaders are allegedly in a tussle over the state’s chief ministership. Following the 2018 assembly election victory, the Congress is believed to have hammered out an informal plan after both Baghel and Singh Deo staked their claim for the top job. According to this plan, both leaders would be made CM on a rotation basis, with Baghel holding the position for the first two-and-half years, a tenure that ended on 17 June this year.
“It’s strange that Baghel was summoned by the party high command barely a day after his return from Delhi. We cannot believe that everything is hunky-dory in the party. Some big decision is in the offing. MLAs going to Delhi is a move to show strength and pressurise the AICC leadership,” said a senior Congress leader and party spokesperson.
According to Chhattisgarh Congress leaders ThePrint spoke to, nearly a dozen party MLAs are in Delhi to show their support. Several more are expected to accompany Baghel.
Meanwhile, Chhattisgarh Congress in-charge P.L. Punia and state Congress president Mohan Markam denied that Bhagel was summoned to Delhi. Punia Thursday said that neither MLAs nor any senior party leader were called to Delhi by the central leadership. He added that Baghel had sought a meeting with Gandhi, which will be held Friday.
In Raipur, Markam told the media, “I have not been called to Delhi by the party high command or any senior leader and (neither) were MLAs. Party legislators must follow the directions of AICC leadership.”
Before leaving for Delhi Thursday, Baghel loyalist and MLA from Bhilai, Devendra Yadav told media at the Raipur airport: “We all are working unitedly for the people of Chhattisgarh in the leadership of Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel. State government is doing good work and we are going to Delhi to appraise the party leadership about the same.”
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Baghel versus Singh Deo
Earlier in the week, both Baghel and Singh Deo held three meetings with Gandhi, AICC General Secretary K.C. Venugopal and other senior party leaders. Baghel returned to Raipur, Wednesday, where he told the media that those seeking rotation of the CM’s post are creating political instability in the state.
“I have said in the past that when the high command orders, I will quit the post. No one should have any doubt. Those who are talking about two and a half years, they are trying to bring political instability and they will never succeed,” Bagel told reporters at the airport. He added that Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi had given an opportunity to a farmer to become chief minister, and promised to step down if asked to.
Baghel’s statement was backed by Punia, who said no talks were on about a change in leadership in the state. “Discussions were focused on developmental activities,” he said Wednesday.
For his part, Singh Deo has appeared to tow the party line so far. “It’s the high command that decides our role and we try to abide by those responsibilities,” he told media in Delhi Thursday, stressing that every player “aspires and thinks of becoming the captain of the team but it’s not about mere wishes … It’s also about one’s ability and capabilities”.
(Edited by Manasa Mohan)
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