Congress top brass summons Chhattisgarh Home Min; Deo camps in Delhi amid CM change buzz

In a fresh development amid the speculation about a change of guard in Chhattisgarh, the Congress high command summoned the state's Home Minister Tamradhwaj Sahu to Delhi. As per reports, Sahu as well as Chhattisgarh Congress president Mohan Markam met party president Sonia Gandhi on Wednesday. Incidentally, the Chhattisgarh Home Minister was also one of the contenders for the CM's post when Congress won the Assembly election in 2018. 

Meanwhile, sources added that the state Health Minister TS Singh Deo has been camping in the national capital for a week. The infighting in the Congress' state unit has been attributed to Deo's insistence that he should be made the CM as per the rotational formula. CM Bhupesh Baghel may be asked to pave way for the Chhattisgarh Health Minister after November 1, sources indicated. 

Political crisis in Chhattisgarh

In the last 5 years of the Raman Singh-led government, Bhupesh Baghel functioned as the Congress state president while TS Singh Deo was the Leader of Opposition. Thereafter, Congress swept the 2018 Chhattisgarh Assembly election by winning 68 out of 90 seats while BJP was reduced to a mere 15 seats. However, the party faced a tough task in selecting the Chief Minister as 4 contenders for the top post- Baghel, Deo, Charandas Mahant and Sahu. At this juncture, Wayanad MP Rahul Gandhi reportedly proposed a formula via which Baghel would become the CM and Deo would take over two and a half years later. 

The dissent in the Deo camp has been brewing ever since Baghel refused to abide by this purported agreement even as the two-and-a-half-year deadline elapsed. In late August, the CM invited the Congress' top brass' displeasure after he brought over 40 MLAs with him to Delhi to demonstrate his support. On September 24, Deo publicly acknowledged the existence of a rotational CM formula and refused to rule out a change in guard. 

On October 2, Baghel was appointed as the AICC senior observer for the upcoming Assembly election in Uttar Pradesh leading to speculation that the Congress top brass still has faith in his leadership. This perception was strengthened by the fact that he was a part of the 5-member delegation led by Rahul Gandhi who visited members of the farmers who were killed in the Lakhimpur violence. Sources revealed that the Sonia Gandhi-led party threatened to take strict action against Baghel if he doesn't budge from his stance and contemplated calling a meeting of the Legislative Party on the lines of Punjab.