Congress general secretary BK Hariprasad lavished praises on Chhattisgarh Congress unit programme co-ordinator Bhupesh Baghel on Thursday and claimed that Chief Minister Raman Singh was always scared of Baghel as “he has unravelled a series of scandals engineered by the BJP Government”.
A galaxy of senior Congress leaders of the state besides Hariprasad who is party in-charge of Chhattisgarh, attended the function hosted by Baghel on his home turf in Patan assembly seat.
The function was formally organised to felicitate teachers of the State by the Congress on Teachers Day but the event had a greater meaning in Congress circle as it was a pure show of strength by a person who is known for waging an open rivalry with his party colleague and former Chief Minister Ajit Jogi.
Party sources said the function was nicknamed as ‘teachers felicitation function’ but it was actually a ‘show of strength’ by Baghel who mostly known in the state of raking up corruption scandals with proof against his political adversaries within and outside the party.
Baghel’s bête noire Jogi skipped the function as it was widely expected though Hariprasad who attended the function along with Congress state chief Charandas Mahant and leader of the Opposition Ravindra Choubey, said Jogi failed to attend the function because he was preoccupied in Delhi.
But Jogi’s lone son, Amit Jogi, told newsperson that his father was not invited for Baghel’s function.