The suspense over who will be the chief minister of Chhattisgarh is likely continue for another day.
Congress president Rahul Gandhi, on Saturday evening, tweeted a picture of himself flanked by top leaders from the party's Chhattisgarh unit, with a telling quote, even as the party announced that the name of the chief minister chosen by the party chief will be revealed on Sunday. Those in the photo are: Pradesh Congress president Bhupesh Baghel, former leader of the opposition T. S. Singh Deo, the lone Congress MP from the state Tamradhwaj Sahu and veteran party leader Charan Das Mahant. These have been widely believed to be the frontrunners for the top job.
With this, hectic parleys, that lasted over a day, to select the best man for the top job in the state where the Congress swept the recently concluded assembly elections, winning 68 out of the 90 seats, has come to an end.
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The quote tweeted along with the photo, “No matter how brilliant your mind or strategy, if you’re playing a solo game, you’ll always lose out to a team,” suggests that Chhattisgarh could have a team of top leaders—perhaps one or more deputy chief ministers—to assist a chief minister. This is in line with the way Rahul Gandhi has acted in Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan where the post of chief minister was fiercely contested. The Congress chief did a great job of balancing the energy of the youth and the experience of veterans, without anyone having to make any compromises.
A PCC office bearer in Raipur denied that the delay in appointing the chief minister could be on account of the inability to of the party chief to take a call or two or more leaders staking claim to the job, and said, “every one of these four leaders has said they will go with the party president's decision". At the PCC office in Raipur there was "no definite information yet".
Gandhi's decision, based on inputs from the Congress observer Mallikarjun Kharge and Pradesh in- charge P.L. Punia, will doubtless be based on what the party needs to do on the ground ahead of Lok Sabha elections in 2019.
Besides, the party has made promises including that of loan waiver to farmers, halving of power tariff, and more jobs among others, and the implementation of these has to begin before the Congress seeks votes for the Lok Sabha polls.
Moreover, all the communities and castes also have to be represented and appeased. Baghel is a Kurmi, Tamradhwaj Sahu belongs to Sahu community, Deo is a Thakur while Mahant is a Kabirpanthi. They have led a united campaign and all of them have maintained that there was fairness in ticket distribution, leading to the party's stunning victory.