Congress attempts to put house in order with Singhdeo’s promotion in Chhattisgarh

Months before polls in four important states, besides the general elections the next summer, the Indian National Congress’s top leadership is in an overdrive to bring truce among its warring factions. This has been the case in several states, but the latest indication of this came on Wednesday (June 28) evening with the ascension of TS Singhdeo to the post of Deputy Chief Minister of Chhattisgarh.

Seventy-year-old Singhdeo has long been at odds with Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel, who rose to the top position in Chhattisgarh in 2018 despite being younger to Signhdeo. Earlier, Singhdeo had quit one of his multiple portfolios (panachayati raj), though he continued to be a minister in Baghel’s Cabinet.

He had also trouped in to Delhi with MLAs supporting him in the past to assert his claim before the party high command for the top job. The Congress leadership reacted meekly to Singhdeo’s move that looked like a virtual arm-twisting. This led to the speculations about a prior arrangement for dividing the five-year term of the chief ministerial office between Baghel and Singhdeo at halfway point, or after two-and-half years of Congress’ coming to power in Chhattisgarh, by trouncing the BJP government led by Raman Singh.

Also read: Eye on polls, Congress appoints Chhattisgarh CM Baghel’s rival Singhdeo as his deputy

How the truce was clinched

Chhattisgarh has relatively few Congress heavyweights as several of its top leaders from the state, including Vidya Charan Shukla, perished in a landmine explosion believed to have been triggered by Naxalites in May 2013. A few years after the shocking incident in the Bastar region of the state, the former Congress Chief Minister Ajit Jogi left the party and formed his own outfit called Janata Congress Chhattisgarh.

Thus, despite having been left with rather a lightweight state leadership after 2013 incident and Jogi’s exit in 2016, the Congress made a comeback in 2018. But soon the feud over the high chair came to fester between Baghel and Singhdeo. The Congress recently appointed Kumari Selja, former central minister and a member of the Congress Steering Committee, as in charge of Chhattisgarh and entrusted her the task to sort out the dispute between the two state leaders.

Both of them, along with a couple of other state party functionaries, came to Delhi on June 28 to hammer out the party strategy in view of the upcoming Assembly polls in consultation with party president Mallikarjun Kharge and his predecessor Rahul Gandhi, besides other important central party leaders. After the day-long strategy session, Kharge summoned Singhdeo separately where he was told of being promoted to the post of deputy chief minister.

Also read: BJP, AAP flay Congress after Singhdeo is named Chhattisgarh deputy CM

The idea behind the Congress high command’s move is to address Singhdeo’s longstanding grievance and improve cohesion in the rank and file of the state unit. Apart from Chhattisgarh, polls are due in five months in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Telangana. Thus, the Congress party is showing urgency to sort out pending issues among party leaders, so it does not cloud the forthcoming electoral showdown with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

The Rajasthan tangle

Earlier this month, Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot, along with his bête noire Sachin Pilot, was summoned by the high command to Delhi. Both Gehlot and Pilot were told to bury the hatchet and work together for the next Assembly polls. After intense discussions, the two posed together for a photo op for the media at Kharge’s 10, Rajaji Marg residence. Soon, the party’ talking heads said that both Gehlot and Pilot agreed to work together to defeat the BJP in the coming assembly polls and the two had left all issues (between them) to be resolved by the party high command.

Former Deputy Chief Minister of Punjab Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa, who is in charge of Rajasthan, said that a “formula” has been worked out to resolve the tussle for power in Rajasthan. He did not spell out the details of the formula but said that 90 per cent of issues between the two state party leaders were resolved and the rest did not matter as was being made out in the media. If Randhawa is to be believed, it is no less a feat and a great reprieve for the grand old party in Rajasthan, for Pilot was reported to be mulling over the possibility of forming his own party.

Also read: Chhattisgarh polls: Congress sits pretty as Bhupesh Baghel towers over Opposition

The Madhya Pradesh debacle

The Congress broke up in Madhya Pradesh three years ago, when Jyotiraditya Scindia switched loyalty and joined the BJP with 22 Congress MLs following suit in March 2020, toppling the government led by Kamal Nath and paving the way for the BJP to form the government. The Congress has ever since regrouped by closing ranks between Nath and Digvijaya Singh, and the two veteran leaders have been out to avenge their party’s loss of power in the largest central Indian state. As a result, the Congress has been able to win over a few state-level BJP leaders recently back to its fold. It is a clear bid to swell Congress’ ranks in Madhya Pradesh.

Likewise, in the poll-bound Telangana, it has also been successful in wooing some of the leaders from the state’s ruling Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) led by K Chandrasekhar Rao. But this is in sharp contrast to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s home state Gujarat where Congressmen are trouping in to join the BJP.

Also read: BJP in pitiable situation in Chhattisgarh, says Bhupesh Baghel

Power struggle in other states

The leadership tussles in other states also surfaced where the party came to power recently. The Congress leaders in Delhi had to spend days to sort out factional claims for leadership by Siddaramaiah and DK Shivakumar after the party won assembly polls in Karnataka in May this year. Though the two leaders were made to reconcile by the top brass, differences between the two satraps still keep on emerging. This could well have the potential to cast its shadow over Congress’ electoral fortunes in the next Lok Sabha polls in 2024.

The same tussle could be seen in Himachal Pradesh after the Congress won the Vidhan Sabha elections in December 2022. There were multiple claimants for chief minister’s chair. Finally, Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu got the post and his rival Mukesh Agnihotri was appointed as deputy chief minister. Pratibha Singh, the wife of former chief minister late Vierbhadra Singh, had to be content with her Lok Sabha membership from Mandi in the state. She had to issue a statement endorsing Sukhu’s rise after her supporters protested against her being dropped out of the race for the top post.

So the short point

The sum total of such internecine battles plaguing the Congress in state after state until recently can well be uncertainty in polls, which are to be held in near future. Earlier, the last-minute changes made in the state leadership in Punjab before the polls did not work and the party lost badly to Aam Aadmi Party in 2022. Thus, the changes and promises being made now whether in Chhattisgarh or in Rajasthan by the Congress leadership may or may not work to its advantage since the polls are no longer far away.

Also read: No mention of new party as Pilot pays tribute to father on death anniversary

Yet, the party has to clear the decks by sorting out differences among its state leaders before putting together or recasting its main executive team, the 35-member strong Congress Working Committee (CWC). This has long been pending, since Raipur plenary session of the party held in February this year.

A contest for the CWC among leaders was avoided since the party decided to change the social complexion of the CWC. This could have led to more problems than helping it clear its stables, more so in states where the Congress has a significant presence.

An opportunity to take up the long-festering issues came up when Rahul started interacting with party leaders from across the country during the course of Bharat Jodo Yatra. The level of goodwill and trust enjoyed by him through the party’s rank and file has gone up tremendously with his successful Yatra.

Now, the Congress is gearing up for a recast of sorts of the party at various levels.