Team News Riveting
Raipur, August 28
With the flurry of political activities taking place within the party in Punjab and Chhattisgarh, the “silence” of Congress leadership has created confusion among the cadre.
In Chhattisgarh, the crisis had assumed an observant proportion with over 55 Congress lawmakers rushing to New Delhi on Thursday. The move was to support Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel amidst rumours of leadership change in the party.
The move was necessitated as T S Singh Deo, the senior most minister, had come under the scathing attack from a section in the party. He had been targeted as there were debates in the power corridor about power sharing between Baghel and Singh Deo.
After hectic parleys and show of strength at the Congress headquarters in New Delhi, the issue was reportedly resolved on Friday night. Interestingly, the party leadership invited the stakeholders for talks but remained mum on the issue. There is no official version of the Congress leadership over the events unfolding in Chhattisgarh.
Baghel reached Raipur and was accorded a rousing welcome from his supporters, unlike his arrivals from New Delhi earlier. The Chhattisgarh Chief Minister said in the meeting with Rahul Gandhi, he had discussions on politics, public development schemes and he had also invited Gandhi to visit Chhattisgarh. “Rahulji will visit the State next week and will return with the Chhattisgarh model to be showcased in the country,” claimed Baghel.
Singh Deo also returned to the state capital late in the evening and said, “All is well.” In an interview to a channel in New Delhi, Singh Deo said the party leadership had taken some decisions that had been “reserved” for an appropriate time.
The political observers in the national capital feel that the Congress leadership had not discussed the development issues only during the marathon meet and the 55 MLAs had not dashed the national capital to brief about the development issue. There is a suspense that the party high command can only clear, they added.
The “silence” of Congress high command has been questioned in Punjab where Chief Minister Amarinder Singh had locked horns with newly appointed Congress State Chief Navjot Singh Sidhu.
Senior Congress leader Manish Tewari however “questioned the party’s silence” on Punjab Congress president Navjot Singh Sidhu on his recent statement in Amritsar. Tewari tweeted a video on Saturday, where Sidhu said if not allowed to work independently he would resort to “eent se eent baja denge”.
