The Congress on Tuesday staged a massive comeback in Chhattisgarh Assembly Elections by winning/leading in 67 of the total 90 seats in the state and wresting the state from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), showcasing its best sign of resurgence in the 2018 assembly elections. However, the victory has posed a question of who will be the next Chief Minister.
The race for the top seat is between state party chief Bhupesh Baghel, Leader of Opposition in the Assembly TS Singh Deo and party’s lone Lok Sabha MP from the state, Tamradhwaj Sahu. However, it is likely that Baghel will supersede the others to assume the office of the Chief Minister.
A firebrand and aggressive politician, Chhattisgarh Pradesh Congress Committee President Bhupesh Baghel is one state Congress leader who is credited with reviving the party worker’s courage to fight against the mighty BJP and its 15 year rule during the last five years.
A top runner for the post, Baghel belongs to the Kurmi community, which makes up around 14% of the state’s electorate. Baghel is a former state minister and a former deputy leader of the Congress Legislature Party during the first tenure of BJP from 2003-2008.
Also read: Bhupesh Baghel leads the race to become the next CM of Chhattisgarh
A seasoned legislator, Mr Baghel served in the Digvijaya Singh cabinet when Chhattisgarh was still a part of Madhya Pradesh and later in the Ajit Jogi government. He was appointed as the party’s state unit chief in 2014.
Baghel has been indicted and was recently arrested by the CBI for allegedly distributing a “fake sleaze video” featuring a BJP state minister. Baghel is currently out on bail. However, Baghel claimed that criminal cases filed against him were politically motivated. He took over as the PCC chief after the Congress lost to BJP in 2013 assembly elections.
