Will vacate post if party demands to do so, says Chhattisgarh CM Bhupesh Bhaghel
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Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel on Monday said that he would vacate his post if the party high-command asks him to do so. Baghel was replying to a question regarding the power-sharing formula in the state when leaving for Delhi to meet senior party leaders, including Rahul Gandhi.
The Chief Minister's visit to the national capital where the state's Health Minister TS Singh Deo has also reached Bhopal is being linked to the purported two-and-a-half-year power-sharing formula for the chief minister's post in the state's ruling Congress.
On Monday, Baghel did not reveal the agenda for the meetings in Delhi while talking to reporters at the Swami Vivekanand airport before taking off for Delhi, reports PTI.
Baghel was quoted as replying that he will be meeting with Rahul Gandhi. He also added that he will have discussions with AICC General Secretary KC Venugopal and the state's in-charge PL Punia. He also replied that he has information about meeting with Rahul only when asked whether TS Singh Deo will also be present during the meeting.
Meanwhile, as per the PTI report, TS Singh Deo was quoted as saying that he was not aware of any meeting with party senior leaders in Delhi as of now.
"We don't know. Punia Ji is the person entrusted with this. He is in touch with the high command. It's for him to convey. We are waiting for his message. I have informed Punia Ji that I am in Delhi and I suppose we will get conveyed in the morning (about a meeting)," he said.
The Baghel government completed two-and-a-half years in power in July this year and speculations are rife that the power-sharing formula is likely to be discussed during the Chief Minister's meetings with senior party leaders scheduled on Tuesday.
Sharing the Chief Minister's post on a rotational basis has been a buzz in the state's political circles when Mr Baghel took oath as Chief Minister. After Congress came to power in Chattisgarh in December 2018, Baghel and his two senior cabinet colleagues TS Singh Deo and Tamradhwaj Sahu were the leading contenders for the Chief Minister post.