Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday held discussions with Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel and his detractor – senior minister in the state government T S Singh Deo – as Congress appeared hurtling towards another crisis even before it put its house in order two other states: Punjab and Rajasthan.
While Baghel flew from Raipur on Monday evening a hours after Singh Deo reached the national capital from Bhopal on Monday afternoon. The two leaders were rivals for quite some time but the rumblings grew after June this year when the Baghel government completed two and half years in office.
This was because of the purported promise of rotational Chief Ministership formula that was speculated to have been agreed between them by the Congress high command when the party had formed a government in the state, winning Assembly polls after a gap of 15 years.
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AICC general secretary for Chattisgarh, P L Puniya, had, in June itself, denied that there was any such half-half-CM formula in the state, indicating that Baghel would continue in the post. Baghel in July said he was ready to step down if the high command asked him to do so but also indicated that such formula generally exists in a coalition government of two parties while Congress has a clear majority on its own in the state.
While many in the party agree that such an informal proposal did exist, there was no written or public announcement of any such formula. While Baghel is 60, Singh Deo is 68.
In 2018 when the Chhattisgarh polls took place, Baghel was the state Congress chief and after elections named the Chief Minister with majority MLAs supporting him.
The two leaders, Baghel and Sindh Deo met Gandhi at his official residence, where Puniya was also present.
“After a long time, I am going to Delhi. (Last month) I visited Himachal Pradesh to take part in the funeral of Virbhadra Singh ji as a representative of Sonia Gandhi during which I met Priyanka (returning to Delhi). This time the meeting is with Rahul Gandhi. There will also be a meeting with AICC General Secretary KC Venugopal and state's incharge PL Punia,” Baghel had said on Monday before leaving for the national capital. He had also feigned ignorance about Singh Deo also meeting Gandhi saying he has information of "meeting with Rahul ji only”.
Baghel, Singh Deo and Tamradhwaj Sahu were in contention for the Chief Minister's post after the election results and when the CM post went to Baghel, the other two were inducted as Cabinet ministers in the state.