Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Thursday finally ended the lingering tussle in Chhattisgarh over the issue of rotational Chief Minister during a much-awaited visit to Raipur when he publicly hailed incumbent Bhupesh Baghel and gave a clear thumbs down to Health Minister TS Singh Deo.
Though Gandhi did not utter a single word about the persisting row, his bonhomie with the powerful OBC leader Baghel during his nearly five-hour trip to Raipur ended speculation of any possible change of guard in the mineral-rich state.
The Wayanad MP heaped praise on Baghel at the high-stake function at the sprawling Science College ground here for "delivering the party commitment made with the people in Chhattisgarh". Gandhi maintained a distance from Singh Deo during his entire stay in Raipur which didn’t go down well with Singh Deo’s supporters who expected a closed-door meeting at least for a few minutes. Political analysts in the state are calling it the perfect end of the "CM rotational drama" which was kept alive by a desperate Singh Deo, the scion of the erstwhile Surguja royal family. Gandhi looked to be in a jolly mood in Raipur while interacting with people at stalls put up at the function site to showcase the Chhattisgarh model of development.
But he was unsparing in his attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the BJP on charges of favouring a few capitalists on the cost of poor in the country. His speech was largely a repeat of what he said in the Lok Sabha on Wednesday during the motion of thanks to the President’s address. Gandhi launched the Chhattisgarh government’s Rajiv Gandhi Gramin Bhoomihin Krishi Majdoor Nyay Yojana and advised Baghel publicly to raise the annual payment amount of Rs 6,000 per beneficiary. He also laid the foundation stone for a Sewagram Ashram in Nava Raipur and another foundation stone for a Chhattisgarh Amar Jawan Jyoti memorial.