Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel and his cabinet colleague T.S. Singh Deo are like chalk and cheese. If Baghel is a politician in the aggressive mould, a streetfighter who has worked his way up in the Congress, Deo is soft-spoken and known for deftly reaching out to the party workers and the electorate. Again, if Baghel is more of a grassroots person, hailing from a family of farmers, Deo is the scion of the royal family of Surguja and contrasts the earthy chief minister with his flawless English and is suave and sophisticated.
Also, the staunch rivals currently engaged in a tussle for the chief minister's chair in Chhattisgarh once shared a cordial relationship and were known as the 'Jai-Veeru Ki Jodi' after the legendary pair of friends in the classic Hindi film 'Sholay' played by Amitabh Bachchan and Dharmendra.
In 2013, when almost the entire top brass of the Congress in Chhattisgarh was wiped out in an ambush by Naxalites in Jhiram Ghati in Bastar, it came upon mainly Baghel and Deo to rebuild the organisation and motivate the demoralised party cadre.
In the run up to the assembly elections in 2018, Baghel, then president of the state Congress, brought the party back into the game by taking to the streets with his incessant campaign against the Raman Singh government and was also in jail for a fortnight in connection with a case of circulation of a “fake” sex CD that allegedly showed a senior minister in a compromising position. He had refused to seek bail and walked into jail.
On the other hand, Deo had won the admiration of the central leadership of the party with his unique endeavour to seek the views of the people while drafting the party's manifesto for the state elections. Deo, who was then the leader of opposition, had through the extensive exercise undertaken to gather the views of the people, succeeded in reaching out to the voters as also the party workers.
Following the state elections in 2018, in which the Congress defeated the BJP comprehensively, winning 72 out of 90 seats in the assembly, Baghel and Deo emerged as rival claimants for the chief minister's post. It is learnt that Deo was initially the frontrunner, but what worked in favour of Baghel was his identity as an OBC leader. The two leaders are understood to have agreed to a formula of rotational chief ministership, according to which they would occupy the top post for two-and-a-half years each. The arrangement is said to have had the approval of the party high command.
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At the MLAs meeting in Raipur to choose the leader of the Congress Legislature Party, Deo is said to have moved a motion proposing Baghel's name. While Baghel had the first go at the chief minister's post, Deo joined the government as a cabinet minister.
Baghel completed two-and-a-half years as chief minister in June this year, and Deo has now sought to remind the central leadership that as per the understanding reached in 2018, it is now his turn to head the state government.
Unlike Rajasthan or Punjab, where the rival claimants for power have been vociferous in their demand and have openly attacked the incumbent, in Chhattisgarh, the differences between Baghel and Deo have simmered, but never spilled over until recently when a legislator, said to be close to the chief minister, accused Deo of trying to murder him. The MLA, Brihaspat Singh, did backtrack later, following an intervention by the party high command, but this happened only after Deo expressed his anguish about the accusation in the assembly and walked out.
As the friends-turned-foes fight it out, there is concern that the party they rebuilt following the 2013 massacre might suffer.