Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel is learnt to have toughened his stance over senior leader T. S. Singh Deo's latest move of stepping down as the Panchayati Raj minister. More than 24 hours after Mr. Singh Deo’s resignation, the two had not spoken despite the high command advising them to reconcile through separate calls, said sources.
The resignation letter – in which the disgruntled minister made several allegations against his own government – is seen as a fresh salvo in the ongoing leadership tussle between the two leaders.
Earlier, All India Congress Committee’s (AICC) Chhattisgarh in-charge P.L. Punia, who is on a visit to capital Raipur since July 15, said he had spoken to AICC general secretary K C Venugopal, State CM Baghel and Mr. Singh Deo on the issue and necessary decision would be taken.
However, sources close to Mr. Singh Deo said while he was told by Mr. Punia that Mr. Baghel would call him to discuss the issue, it hadn’t happened till Sunday evening.
A source also contested Mr. Baghel’s claim that he had tried to speak to his party colleague on Saturday night but the latter could not be contacted. The call details of the minister showed no such “missed call records”, the source added.
Meanwhile, speaking to journalists on Sunday, Mr. Baghel adopted a conciliatory tone and dismissed the Opposition’s allegations of lack of coordination in his Cabinet. He said the party would sort out every issue together.
For his part, the Chief Minister added another twist to the story, claiming that he had not received Mr. Singh Deo’s resignation letter.
“I got to know about it from media.… I haven't received the letter, when I receive it, I will look into it,” said the CM.
It turns out that Mr. Singh Deo had neither faxed nor emailed his resignation letter and had used postal mail instead. “I had sent the letter on Saturday evening. It will reach the CM on Monday,” he said.
Mr. Singh Deo did not attend the Congress legislative party meeting in Raipur on Sunday evening. He said he had skipped the meeting to attend a pre-scheduled social function in his constituency, Ambikapur. The meeting was called to discuss the Presidential polls on Monday and the upcoming monsoon session of the Assembly.
Mr. Singh Deo is still continuing with his other portfolios - health and family welfare, medical education, 20-point implementation and commercial tax (GST).
