Chhattisgarh Chief Minister’s Rival Gets Deputy Role Ahead Of Polls

TS SIngh Deo is a “loyal Congress leader and an able administrator,” said KC Venugopal.

New Delhi:

Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel’s political rival TS Singh Deo has been named his deputy ahead of state elections due by the year-end, ending speculation about a change in top post. The decision was made at a meeting at the Congress headquarters in Delhi today. The party made the announcement later in the evening.

In a statement, Congress general secretary KC Venugopal said: “INC President Mallikarjun Kharge has approved the proposal for appointment of TS Singh Deo as the Deputy Chief Minister of Chhattisgarh.”

“He is a loyal Congress leader and an able administrator. The state will benefit greatly from his services as Deputy CM. We are confident that the people of Chhattisgarh will re-elect the Congress with a thumping majority under the leadership of Kharge ji and Rahul Gandhi ji,” Mr Venugopal added.

Sources indicated that the move was aimed at countering factionalism in a state where the party has a shot at winning a second term.

“It was to give TS Singh Deo his dues before the elections,” said another leader, making it clear that the Congress has learnt its lesson from Karnataka, where keeping peace between Siddaramaiah and DK Shivakumar proved a challenge in the run-up to the elections and after.

Mr Deo was among the front-runners for the top post in the 2018 assembly election. But Mr Baghel, a member of Other Backward Classes who led the party campaign, was the choice of the Central leadership.

The TS Singh Deo camp insists there was a rotational power-sharing agreement, which the party has not honoured. There have also been allegations that the Chief Minister’s supporters have tried to undermine Mr Singh Deo.

In August 2021, the power sharing issue turned into an embarrassing fight within the party, which had come to power just two-and-half years before. With apparently 55 of the 80 Congress MLAs backing him, Mr Baghel made it clear he will not quit without a fight.

The matter was finally sorted with the intervention of the Gandhis.

In July that year, Mr Deo had walked out of the assembly after an alleged attack on a tribal Congress MLA, who had accused him of engineering it. He said he would not rejoin the house until the government ordered an inquiry into the allegations against him.

Days later, he resigned the panchayat raj department, but retained the Health and Family Welfare, Medical Education, Twenty Point Implementation and Commercial Tax portfolios.

The Congress swept the Chhattisgarh polls in December 2018, winning 70 of 90 seats and leaving the incumbent BJP far behind at 14 seats.