Chhattisgarh CM Bhupesh Baghel
Congress Interim President Sonia Gandhi on Saturday introduced four additional office-bearers in Chhattisgarh Congress's state unit, while also replacing four vice presidents, three general secretaries and the head of the communication department as a part of organisational change. The move comes amid the ongoing political tussle in the ruling party in the state.
According to sources, the changes were made following the "One Leader One Post" formula. The leaders were replaced because of their induction in the recently constituted boards in the state as members or chairpersons.
The four vice presidents, namely Girish Devangan, Atal Shrivastava, Bhanu Pratap Singh, and Padma Manhar have now been replaced by Arun Singhania, PR Khunte, Ambika Markam and Vani Rao.
Vasudev Yadav, Amarjeet Chawala, and Sumitra Dhritlahre have also replaced three General Secretaries-- Dwarka Prasad Yadav, Uttam Vasudev, and Pankaj Sharma in the Chhattisgarh Congress. The head of the communication department Shailesh Nitin Trivedi has also been replaced by Sushil Anand Shukla under the new changes.
Notably, Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel was appointed as the AICC senior observer for the upcoming Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections.
Leadership change speculations
Many of Chhattisgarh state MLAs are stationed in Delhi as speculations about the change of Chief Minister in Chhattisgarh have been doing the rounds for the past few weeks. After the Bhupesh Baghel-led government completed two-and-a-half years in office in June, the supporters of TS Singh Deo raised the issue of rotational chief ministership.
Congress won the assembly polls held in December 2018 with a thumping majority. Then, the state Congress president Baghel was made the chief minister. TS Singh Deo was the head of the manifesto committee in the election.
What does the CM say?
Chhattisgarh CM Bhupesh Baghel on Saturday asserted that his state can never become Punjab, and said the two states bear only one similarity - that of having numbers in their names.
"Chhattisgarh will always remain Chhattisgarh. It cannot become Punjab. The two states have only one similarity that both have numbers in their names," Baghel told reporters at the helipad here when asked that the BJP has equated Chhattisgarh and Punjab over turmoil in the ruling Congress.
