Rift in Chhattisgarh Congress? CM Bhupesh Baghel, health minister TS Singh Deo to meet Rahul Gandhi in Delhi today

Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel (Image: Twitter/@Bhupesh_Baghel)

Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel and state Health Minister TS Singh Deo, an aspirant for the top post, will meet Congress leader Rahul Gandhi in Delhi on August 24 amid a growing rift over power-sharing arrangement between the two.

The meeting is scheduled in the afternoon in the presence of party’s Chhattisgarh in-charge PL Punia, sources said.

Baghel, according to an informal agreement after the 2018 assembly polls, was to serve as CM for two-and-a-half years after which Deo was to take over. But Baghel continues to be the CM even after completing the two-and-a-half-year tenure on June 17 leading to the rift in the state Congress.

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Both the leaders, however, didn’t divulge details of the meeting.

“After a long time, I am going to Delhi. (Last month) I visited Himachal Pradesh to take part in the funeral of Virbhadra Singh ji as a representative of Sonia Gandhi during which I met Priyanka (returning to Delhi). This time the meeting is with Rahul Gandhi. There will also be a meeting with AICC General Secretary KC Venugopal and state's incharge PL Punia,” Baghel was quoted as saying in a PTI report before leaving for Delhi on August 23.

The chief minister’s post-sharing formula on a rotation basis has been in the buzz soon after Congress came to power in December 2018. Then Baghel and his two senior cabinet colleagues, Singh Deo and Tamradhwaj Sahu, were leading the contenders for the top post. Since then, speculations were rife that consensus was built for the top post based on a two-and-a-half-year power-sharing formula between Baghel and Singh Deo.

Chhattisgarh is one of the three last remaining states where the grand old party is in power. The other two Congress-ruled states of Punjab and Rajasthan are also faced with factionalism and infighting.