RAIPUR: Chhattisgarh chief minister is likely to visit Delhi in the first week of October to finalise Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s Bastar visit, senior minister and government spokesperson Ravindra Chaubey said on Wednesday.
Chaubey said the state’s preparations for Gandhi’s visit are complete and excise minister Kawasi Lakhma, a legislator from Bastar’s Konta constituency, reviewed it a few days earlier and suggested a possible location of the programme.
“Last time when Baghelji (Bhupesh Baghel) visited Delhi, he invited Rahulji (Rahul Gandhi) to the state .. Rahulji gave his approval for the visit.. We are all prepared and now the CM is likely to visit Delhi in the first week of October and then he will discuss the final dates with Rahulji,” said Chaubey told a news conference on Wednesday.
The minister added that the second visit will be in Surguja division of the state and third is planned in the plains of Chhattisgarh .
On August 28, emerging after a long meeting with the Congress high command on suggestions that he should move aside because of a reported two and a half year power sharing agreement with colleague TS Singhdeo, Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel seemed to have bought some time.
{{/usCountry}}On August 28, emerging after a long meeting with the Congress high command on suggestions that he should move aside because of a reported two and a half year power sharing agreement with colleague TS Singhdeo, Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel seemed to have bought some time.
{{/usCountry}}Baghel claimed that Congress leader Rahul Gandhi would visit the state the next week, especially Bastar, to see for himself the work that was being done.
The next day, when Singhdeo returned, he said that he had spoken to the leadership too and they had kept a “decision safe”.
In December 2018, in the aftermath of a dominant Congress performance where the party won 68 of 90 seats, even as the party’s Delhi leadership sought to put out leadership fires in Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh emerged as a problem too.
Four state leaders, Baghel, home minister Tamradhwaj Sahu, speaker Charan Das Mahant and Singh Deo flew to Delhi, all eyeing the chief minister’s post. As Mahant settled for speaker, friction between Baghel and Singh Deo meant that Sahu first emerged as the frontrunner, but pushed by the idea that a third leader would take the top position, Baghel and Singh Deo, along with Punia and Gandhi, reportedly arrived at a power-sharing arrangement.