Bhupesh Baghel set to take oath as new Chhattisgarh CM tomorrow: Know the leader who steered Congress to stupendous victory

After days of suspense and intense deliberations, Congress has appointed senior party leader Bhupesh Baghel as the new chief minister of Chhattisgarh. Baghel will take oath as the chief minister at 5 pm on Monday but no other minister will be sworn in tomorrow. The 57-year-old OBC leader, who steered the party to a stupendous victory with a two-thirds majority in Chhattisgarh pipped party colleagues T S Singh Deo, Tamradhwaj  Sahu and Charan Das Mahant to the top post, as Congress chief Gandhi decided on his candidature to lead the state government.

 

In the two-phase polls that took place on November 12 and November 20, the Congress had romped home to power in Chhattisgarh after 15 years with a two-third majority, winning 68 seats in the 90-member House. The BJP, which was in power in the state since 2003, was reduced to 15 seats. 

 

 

# Baghel is a powerful leader of the OBC community which makes up 52 per cent of the state's 2.55 crore population.

 

# The five-time MLA was elected from Patan in Durg district. He was Revenue Minister in Ajit Jogi's first government in Chhattisgarh that was voted out in 2003.

 

# Baghel was also in the centre-stage of the ousted BJP government's attacks and was recently jailed for some days in Raipur after he was charge-sheeted by the CBI for his alleged role in the circulation of a sleaze CD against a powerful BJP Minister in Chhattisgarh.

 

# Baghel is credited with leading the party from the front in the fight against the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and scripting the crushing defeat of the 15-year-old regime of Raman Singh.