Eye on Raipur, Chhattisgarh’s TS Singhdeo back in Delhi to meet Cong leadership

Chhattisgarh health minister TS Singhdeo, who is in the middle of a power struggle with chief minister Bhupesh Baghel, has been in and out of the national capital.

RAIPUR: Chhattisgarh health minister TS Singhdeo, who had to cut short his Delhi visit due to infant deaths in his constituency, returned to the national capital on Monday to continue efforts to reach out to Congress leadership, people familiar with the matter said.

Chhattisgarh minister TS Singhdeo’s visit is nudging the Congress leadership to take an early call on his reported two and a half year power-sharing agreement with chief minister Bhupesh Baghel (PTI)

Singhdeo’s visit comes against the backdrop of speculation that the health minister is nudging the party leadership to take an early call on his reported two and a half year power-sharing agreement with chief minister Bhupesh Baghel after the Congress won 68 of 90 seats in the 2018 assembly elections. According to this reported pact, TS Singhdeo, who was one of the claimants in 2018, agreed to let Bhupesh Baghel be the chief minister for the first half of the assembly’s five-term term on the assurance that his turn would come in 2021.

Both, chief minister Bhupesh Baghel and health minister TS Singhdeo, have made several visits to Delhi over the last few months.

Singhdeo took a flight to Delhi on Saturday and expected to spend a couple of days in the city but had to return to Chhattisgarh on Sunday after news emerged about the death of four infants in a government medical college in Ambikapur, which falls in his constituency.

On Monday, he was back in Delhi.

Chief minister Bhupesh Baghel was already in Delhi over the weekend for the Congress Working Committee (CWC). Baghel reached Delhi on Friday and after the meeting of the Congress’ highest policy-making body on Saturday, also met Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra.

Baghel hasn’t spoken about his meeting with Priyanka Gandhi but a leader close to him insisted that this meeting focussed on Uttar Pradesh politics, not Chhattisgarh.

“Nothing about the power-sharing formula was discussed in the meeting on Saturday evening; neither was there any hint about it… The discussion was about the strategy of upcoming elections in Uttar Pradesh,” said the functionary who spoke on condition of anonymity. Baghel was appointed as the party’s senior observer for the Uttar Pradesh assembly elections expected early next year.

Singhdeo hasn’t spoken after landing in Delhi on Monday but when he left on Saturday, he did insist that it was a “routine visit”.

“If I get time with senior Congress leaders of Delhi, I will definitely meet them,” the health minister said.

A Congress leader in Chhattisgarh said Singhdeo was trying to meet the party leadership in Delhi to talk about the 2018 power-sharing formula. “Some political developments are expected in the next couple of days,” he said.

Political commentators in Chhattisgarh said it was time the Congress takes a call on the reported power-sharing agreement.

“Every week, there are rumours about the power-sharing formula in Chhattisgarh… Everyone in the state is in confusion… It would be good for Congress high command to send a concrete message and resolve this issue as soon as possible,” said Sudeip Shrivastava, a political commentator based in Chhattisgarh.