Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel and Health Minister TS Singh Deo will visit New Delhi on Tuesday as the rift within the state unit of the ruling Congress is likely to intensify.
According to news agency ANI, both the senior leaders are scheduled to meet former Congress President Rahul Gandhi and the party’s state in-charge PL Punia.
There have been reports about tensions between Baghel and Dev, who was among the chief ministerial candidates when Congress returned to power in the state in 2018. Baghel completed two and a half years on 17th June. It is believed that Dev had reminded Baghel. The power-sharing formula was apparently agreed upon in 2018 when another minister, Tamradhwaj Sahu, was also among the top contenders.
While both Dev and Baghel have said that the central leadership will take a final call on the matter, both are making frequent visits to Delhi to advocate their case.
Last week, Dev had sought action against a news portal, which had cited Baghel as the source of an article claiming to have resigned on August 17. The public relations department had asked the portal to issue a corrigendum or face legal action. Dev termed the August 15 story as a “planned conspiracy” to “contaminate” the political climate of the state. Baghel is in charge of the department.
Differences within the ruling party came to the fore when Dev walked out of the assembly alleging that one of his relatives was involved in the alleged attack on Congress MLA Brihaspat Singh.
Dev was dissatisfied with the government’s statement on the alleged road rage incident from Singh’s convoy on July 24.
At present Chhattisgarh is one of the last remaining states where the oldest party is in power. Punjab, another Congress-ruled state, is facing large-scale factionalism and infighting.
