Resolve the leadership crisis in Chhattisgarh
Raipur is only one of two state capitals where the Congress has a government on its own, and with the other – Jaipur – also going to the polls next year, the party faces the real danger of not being in power in any state on its own strength
Almost a year after the Congress appeared to have resolved its factionalism problem in Chhattisgarh, ties between chief minister Bhupesh Baghel and cabinet minister TS Singh Deo have turned frosty again. This week, both leaders will travel to Delhi to meet the party high command and explain their respective positions, an event precipitated by Mr Deo’s abrupt resignation from one of the portfolios he was holding. With the assembly election due next year, the crisis couldn’t have come at a worse time for the party, still smarting from the drubbing in the five-state polls earlier this year and an unimpressive showing in the presidential election.
Chhattisgarh is one of three states that the Cong-ress won in 2018. That the party is battling a crisis in a state where it otherwise dominates politically speaks poorly of the party’s dysfunctional decision-making and the original bargain struck between the two aspirants in 2018. The party would do well to look at the experience of Punjab, a state it was expected to win but allowed to slip out of its grasp by not resolving a crisis of leadership. Raipur is only one of two state capitals where the Congress has a government on its own, and with the other – Jaipur – also going to the polls next year, the party faces the real danger of not being in power in any state on its own strength. To avoid this ignominy, the party should look to resolve this crisis of leadership, take a leaf out of the Bharatiya Janata Party’s playbook, and devote its attention to governance and elections, not factional squabbles.
Raipur is only one of two state capitals where the Congress has a government on its own, and with the other – Jaipur – also going to the polls next year, the party faces the real danger of not being in power in any state on its own strength. To avoid this ignominy, the Grand Old Party should look to resolve this crisis of leadership, take a leaf out of the Bharatiya Janata Party’s playbook, and devote its attention to governance and elections, not factional squabbles.