Chhattisgarh Congress crisis: Bhupesh Baghel CM for now, shows his strength but not all-clear yet

Bhupesh Baghel will continue as Chief Minister of Chhattisgarh “for the time being” and the proposal to replace him with T S Singh Deo, in line with the formula of rotational chief ministership agreed upon by the two in 2018, was “not a closed chapter,” sources in the Congress said Friday after Baghel met Congress leader Rahul Gandhi for more than three hours amid an unprecedented show of strength by him in New Delhi. The Congress leadership, sources said, was miffed with the Chief Minister for bringing over 40 MLAs including ministers — one of them claimed they totalled 51 — to New Delhi to demonstrate his support despite a clear direction from the high command not to do so. The Congress has 70 MLAs in the 90-member Assembly. Baghel was told to send back the MLAs immediately, sources said. Neither Gandhi nor AICC general secretary (organisation) K C Venugopal met the MLAs. All eyes are now on Gandhi, who the Chief Minister said will be visiting Chhattisgarh next week. Sources said the party leadership is still keen on implementing the rotational chief minister formula and hopes that Baghel will honour it. “He will continue as Chief Minister for the time being,” a senior leader told The Indian Express when asked about the outcome of the meeting. On the rotational chief minister formula, the leader said “it is not a closed chapter.”