Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge on July 12 appointed Deepak Baij, a tribal leader and a Lok Sabha member from Bastar, as the chief of the party’s Chhattisgarh Unit.
Mr. Baij, 41, replaces the outgoing President Mohan Markam, also a tribal and hailing from Bastar, whose tenure as the Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) president ended last year.
The appointment — that comes months before the due Assembly elections and nearly a fortnight after Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel’s political rival T. S. Singh Deo being elevated as the Deputy Chief Minister later this year — is yet another sign of the ruling party ironing out the creases before full-fledged campaigning gets under way.
It also comes in the backdrop of reported differences between Mr. Markam and Mr. Baghel over some organisational appointments and the Chief Minister not reportedly being happy about the organisation “not backing the government’s outreach attempts at a crucial juncture” as claimed by sources.
A couple of organisational appointments had also seen AICC Chhattisgarh in-charge Kumari Selja publicly announcing that some of the decisions made by Mr. Markam had been overturned.
A first-time MP and one of the two Congress candidates [out of 11 seats] from Chhattisgarh to win the 2019 general elections, Mr. Baij has also been a legislator for two terms in the past. He is a law graduate and holds a degree in political science from a government college in Jagdalpur city, Bastar.
Currently, he is a member in the Consultative Committee of the Union Ministry of Tribal Affairs, having worked as a member in the standing committees on External Affairs and Chemical and Fertilizers in the past.
