A confident and smiling Bhupesh Baghel, escorted by around 50 ministers and MLAs, returned to Chhattisgarh capital Raipur on Saturday afternoon to a huge welcome, obviously triumphant in the political tug of war that wracked the ruling Congress in the state during the past week.
Baghel, after a second meeting with Congress ex-president Rahul Gandhi in three days on Friday, seems to have emerged unscathed for now from the apparent moves to remove him from the post of chief minister.
He returned to Raipur in a special plane with six ministers and around 45 MLAs who had gone to Delhi on Thursday and Friday in what was seen as a show of strength.
This show of strength, which reportedly played a big part in saving the day for Baghel from an apparent threat of losing his chief ministerial chair, continued on Saturday as hundreds of cheering and sloganeering supporters gathered at the Raipur airport to welcome him.
Also, welcome was accorded to the CM’s motorcade at some places along the route from airport to the CM House.
This was the second time this week that such scenes were witnessed at the Raipur airport as the ruling party in the state went through a huge leadership-related tumult. Earlier on Wednesday, when Baghel had returned to the capital after the first round of meeting with Rahul Gandhi, supporters had similarly rallied around him. That had been the first indication that Baghel was not ready to buckle under the pressure of political parley in Delhi aimed at his removal. He had gone again to Delhi on Friday morning and had a second long drawn meeting, second time in three days, with Congress ex-president Rahul Gandhi.
When he came out of the meeting to say that Gandhi had accepted his invitation ‘extended in capacity of the chief minister’ to come to Chhattisgarh next week, it became apparent that Baghel had managed to convince the party leadership in his favour, at least for now.
The CM repeated the same statement, about Gandhi’s acceptance of invitation and his impending two-day visit to the state to look at the range of development works carried out here, to media persons at Raipur airport on Saturday, too. He said that Rahul Gandhi will then showcase the Chhattisgarh model in other parts of the country.
Political storm blows over?
Though there was no official word to confirm any political tussle or move to change the chief minister in the state, the political developments during the past week made it clear that the ruling party in the state went through a huge tumult in the period.
In the centre of the controversy was a sulking T.S. Singh Deo, the state health minister and a strong aspirant for the CM post, in Delhi from about 10 days seeking fulfillment of a much talked about promise of sharing of power for 2.5 years each between Singh Deo and Baghel.
As the pressure grew and the first meeting between Baghel, Singh Deo and Rahul Gandhi did not seem to bring any results, restlessness grew among Baghel supporters in Raipur. With news coming in about Baghel being summoned to Delhi again on Friday, the supporting MLAs and ministers made a beeline to Delhi on Thursday and Friday and gathered in huge numbers at Congress headquarters in Delhi on Friday afternoon when Baghel was meeting Rahul Gandhi in presence of Priyanka Gandhi. Earlier, they met Congress Chhattigarh in-charge P.L. Punia and sought a meeting with Rahul Gandhi.
All through the day-long political drama, Singh Deo, who was present in Delhi, remained totally away and has yet not made an appearance or given any statement.
Though the ministers and MLAs maintained that they were in Delhi on their own accord to meet senior leaders on different issues related to Chhattisgarh, their pressure in support of Baghel was not lost to anyone. This also seemed to yield the desired result and Baghel seems to be safe as of now, political watchers feel.
