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 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.
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.
Considering the loss that Congress had suffered in three consecutive elections, Baghel had a huge task to revive the party in the state. Throughout the poll campaign, Baghel launched frontal attacks on the BJP regime and raised allegations of corruption.
