Weeks after clamping a lid on a crisis in Punjab, the Congress is firefighting in Chhattisgarh, where Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel’s minister TS Singh Deo has laid claim to the highest post, demanding rotational chief ministership. Both Bhupesh Baghel and Chhattisgarh Health Minister TS Singh Deo are meeting with Rahul Gandhi in Delhi because the infighting threatens to boil.
Mr Baghel’s government completed two-and-a-half years in office in June. that’s when Mr Deo and his supporters started pressing for change, insisting that rotational chief ministership was the deal when the party took power in December 2018.
Mr Deo claims he was promised he would take over as Chief Minister after Mr Baghel’s half-term.
Sources near Mr Deo say he won’t accept anything less. If he isn’t made Chhattisgarh Chief Minister, he will quit the govt and perhaps even the Congress, said sources. Mr Deo “won’t join the BJP” but can’t work under Mr Baghel anymore, they added.
“The situation is at a brink,” sources near Mr Deo told NDTV.
Both Mr Baghel and Mr Deo have avoided spelling out their plans.
Mr Baghel, asked whether Mr Deo would be present during his meeting with Rahul Gandhi, said, “I have information of meeting with Rahul ji only.”
After winning the Chhattisgarh election in 2018, the Congress faced tough negotiations with chief ministerial contenders including Mr Deo and Tamradhwaj Sahu.
Finally, both were taken on as ministers when Mr Baghel took charge. Rahul Gandhi had tweeted a photograph with the leaders, in an exceedingly show of unity, with the message: “No matter how brilliant your mind or strategy, if you’re playing a solo game, you will always lose dead set a team. – Reid Hoffman.”
But that picture not reflects the bottom realities, just like the other photos tweeted by Mr Gandhi at the time – with Kamal Nath and Jyotiraditya Scindia (Madhya Pradesh) and with Ashok Gehlot and Sachin Pilot (Rajasthan).
Reports, never confirmed, suggested the Chhattisgarh challengers had relented only if the Congress agreed to the formula of power-sharing between Mr Baghel and Mr Deo.
However, on every occasion Mr Baghel has been asked about such a formula, he has said he will readily step down if the party leadership asks him to.
