Raipur: Amid a power tussle in the ruling Congress in Chhattisgarh, the party’s central leadership has called Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel to Delhi on Friday, just days after he had met Rahul Gandhi and other senior leaders in the national capital. Sources said he will meet All India Congress Committee (AICC) general secretary K C Venugopal.
The sources said some Congress MLAs are also heading to Delhi in an apparent show of support to the chief minister amid talks of a change in leadership. The Congress which returned to power in the state after 15 years in 2018 is witnessing a tussle between Baghel and Health Minister T S Singh Deo who has staked his claim to the post of chief minister citing a post-poll agreement on rotating chief ministership.
Baghel and Deo had met Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday. They again held discussions with Venugopal on Wednesday.
When contacted, AICC in charge for Chhattisgarh P L Punia told PTI, “Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel will be in the national capital tomorrow as he had sought time from the AICC general secretary.”
Punia, however, clarified that no MLA has been called to Delhi and rejected media reports to this effect.
Baghel had left Delhi on Wednesday and was accorded a rousing welcome in Raipur, where a large number of Congress leaders and MLAs were present in an apparent show of support.
Baghel has said that Congress leaders Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi have entrusted him with the responsibility of running the state government and he will quit the moment they ask him to do so.
On his return to Raipur, he also said that those seeking a rotating chief ministership are creating political instability in the state.
Baghel was in the eye of the storm recently after the state government brought a bill to take over a private medical college, whose management includes members from the family of his daughter’s in-laws.
