Tussle in Chhattisgarh Congress between TS Singh Deo and CM Bhupesh Baghel reignited

On Saturday, Singh Deo resigned from the panchayat and rural development department, one of the five portfolios held by him in the Baghel cabinet. However, he will retain the other four ministries, including health.

RAIPUR: Expressing dissatisfaction over the functioning of his government in the area of rural development, Chhattisgarh minister TS Singh Deo on Saturday resigned from the panchayat and rural development department, one of the five portfolios held by him in the Bhupesh Baghel cabinet.

TS Singh Deo (left) and Bhupesh Baghel. (File Photo)

He will, however, remain minister for health and family welfare, medical education, twenty point implementation and commercial tax (GST).

Singh Deo, in a four-page letter to Baghel, explained the reasons behind his resignation.

“Plotting a conspiracy, work of MGNREGA in the state was deliberately affected by organising an employment assistants’ strike, in which the role of Assistant Project Officers (Contract) was clearly visible. A committee was constituted by you (Baghel) to meet the demands of the protesting employees, even after this the strike was not called off, due to which, wage payment of about ₹1250 crore was affected and could not reach the rural economy,” he stated in his letter.

Singh Deo further said that when he came to know that the reappointment of the removed assistant project officers for contracts was is underway, he opined that they should not be reappointed to the same post.

“The APOs were reappointed yesterday without my approval, which is not acceptable to me,” he said in the letter.

Singh Deo further stated that he has been unable to fulfil the target of the department as per the vision of jan ghoshna patra (poll manifesto) in the current situation.

“Despite my repeated request to you to sanction funds under Pardhan Mantri Awas Yojna, it was not allotted, as a result of which houses could not be constructed for 8 lakh people. Under 36 targets set under our poll manifesto, house to poor was prominently mentioned. But in the incumbent government, not a single house was constructed for houseless and progress of the scheme was nil,” he said in the letter.

It is discretion of the minister to approve work under the concerned department. But under Mukhyamantri Samagra Gramin Vikas Yojna, a committee of secretaries headed by the chief secretary was constituted to grant final approval to the work, he said.

“I raised an objection over this process which is against standard protocol, but it was not rectified, due to which development work worth over ₹500 crore as per the suggestions of minister, MLAs, public representatives could not be taken up,” he said.

The minister also claimed that the draft of the rules under the PESA Act, related to panchayats in scheduled areas, prepared by his department and sent to committee, was changed without taking him into confidence.

Singh Deo, who represents the Ambikapur assembly constituency in Surguja, is known as the political rival of chief minister Baghel in the state Congress.

Slamming the government, state Bharatiya Janata Party president Vishnu Deo Sai said the resignation of Singh Deo reflects the incompetence of Baghel.

“The resignation reflects the dictatorship of Baghel. The chief minister himself is not working for the welfare of the common man and also obstructing others,” said Sai.

Congress spokesperson RP Singh, responding to BJP’s comment, stated that the opposition party should first look within itself.

“ If the Bhupesh government is not working, why Prime Minister Narendra Modi gave a dozen of awards to the Chhattisgarh government for exemplary work?: he asked.