Form of words:
Dehradun: Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel has been summoned by the Congress party high command to the national capital for the second time this week as the power struggle between the CM and state Health Minister TS Singh Deo intensified on Thursday.
Baghel, who was in Delhi on Tuesday, returned on Wednesday after a series of meetings With former party president Rahul Gandhi and other senior party leaders.
Amid speculations of a growing rift within the state unit, several legislators from the ruling party also reached Delhi to express solidarity with CM Baghel. Meanwhile, Singh Deo is staying in Delhi after Wednesday’s meetings.
There is reportedly a tussle between the two party leaders over the state’s chief minister’s post. After the 2018 assembly election victory, the Congress is believed to have made an informal plan after both Baghel and Singh Deo staked their claim for the top post. As per the plan, the two leaders will be made CMs in turn, with Baghel first holding office for two and a half years, a term that ended on June 17 this year.
“It is strange that Baghel was summoned by the party high command barely a day after he returned from Delhi. We can’t believe everything is hunky-dory at the party. A big decision is about to come. The MLAs going to Delhi is a move to show strength and put pressure on the AICC leadership,” said a senior Congress leader and party spokesperson.
According to Chhattisgarh Congress leaders who spoke to ThePrint, about a dozen MLAs of the party are in Delhi to show their support. Many more people are expected to join Baghel.
Meanwhile, Chhattisgarh Congress in-charge PL Punia and state Congress president Mohan Markam denied that Bhagel was called to Delhi. Punia said on Thursday that the central leadership neither called the MLA nor any senior party leader to Delhi. He said Baghel had demanded a meeting with Gandhi, which would take place on Friday.
In Raipur, Markam told the media, “I have not been called to Delhi by the party high command or any senior leader and (nor) was an MLA. The party MLAs should follow the instructions of the AICC leadership.
Baghel loyalist and Bhilai MLA Devendra Yadav told the media at Raipur airport before leaving for Delhi on Thursday, “Under the leadership of Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel, we are all working unitedly for the people of Chhattisgarh. The state government is doing a good job and we are going to Delhi to inform the party leadership about it.
Read also: Congress wants to remove BJP from Uttarakhand in 2022, but can spoil infighting
Baghel vs Singh Deo
Earlier in the week, both Baghel and Singh Deo held three meetings with Gandhi, AICC general secretary KC Venugopal and other senior party leaders. Baghel returned to Raipur on Wednesday, where he told the media that he was going to demand rotation of the post of CM. create political instability in the state.
He said, ‘I have said earlier also that I will step down after the order of the high command. There should be no doubt. Those who are talking about two-and-a-half years, they are trying to bring political instability and they will never succeed.” promised to leave.
Baghel’s statement was supported by Punia, who said that there has been no talk about change in leadership in the state. “Discussions focused on development activities,” he said on Wednesday.
For his part, Singh Deo has so far appeared to tread the party line. “It is the high command that decides our roles and we try to abide by those responsibilities,” he told the media Delhi on Thursday asserted that every player “aspires and thinks to be the captain of the team but it is not just about desires… it is also about one’s ability and abilities”.
(Edited by Mansa Mohan)
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