Congress on Tuesday appointed its two Chief Ministers — Ashok Gehlot of Rajasthan and Bhupesh Baghel of Chhattisgarh — as senior observers of Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh, where Assembly elections are scheduled later this year.
The grand old party also received a shot in the arm as former Himachal Pradesh BJP president Khimi Ram joined the Congress.
The move to rope in both the chief ministers is aimed at sending a signal that the party is serious about the two state elections. The party had lost all five states – Uttar Pradesh, Goa, Punjab, Uttarakhand and Manipur – which had gone to polls earlier this year.
According to a Press statement by the Congress, Gehlot will be the senior observer for Gujarat, a state where he was in charge as general secretary in the past.
He will be assisted by Chhattisgarh minister T S Singh Deo and former Union minister Milind Deora as observers. Raghu Sharma, who was a minister in the Gehlot cabinet, is the All India Congress Committee in-charge of Gujarat.
Baghel, meanwhile, will be in charge of Himachal Pradesh. He will be assisted by senior Rajasthan leader Sachin Pilot and leader of the Opposition in Punjab assembly Partap Singh Bajwa.
Khimi Ram, a former minister and deputy speaker in the state, said he takes pride in joining the party that helped the country attain freedom."I am not joining the Congress out of any anger towards the BJP. I have taken a well-thought out decision to take the Congress forward in Himachal Pradesh," he said. Ram said he is confident that the Congress will be able to form the government in the state as there is a lot of corruption, unemployment, inflation and pending employee issues including those related to the pension scheme."We will bring these issues before the people of the state and help form the Congress government in Himachal Pradesh," he said. AICC in-charge for Himachal Rajiv Shukla welcomed him into the Congress fold, and said it is an indication of the winds blowing in the state.