With his appointment as the AICC senior observer for the Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections, Bhupesh Baghel appears to be secure in the post of Chhattisgarh Chief Minister at least for a while now amid the tussle in the state Congress unit.
A team of Chhattisgarh Congress and Baghel are also working for the last few months in the state. Priyanka Gandhi Vadra is in charge of the Uttar Pradesh Congress.
The responsibility of a big state to Baghel indicates that his chief ministerial position is secured at least for now, sources said.
Speculations about the change of Chief Minister in Chhattisgarh have been doing the rounds for the past few weeks. Due to these speculations, many of the state MLAs are stationed in Delhi.
Earlier, Baghel was tasked with the responsibility of the Assam Assembly elections. He along with his team worked campaigned tirelessly in the state. However, Congress lost the elections but his efforts were recognised by the top leadership, sources said.
Apart from the management, Baghel's caste is also being linked to his appointment as the senior observer for the Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections. He belongs to the OBC Kurmi community, whose voters are in large numbers in eastern UP.
After Priyanka Gandhi became the General Secretary of the Uttar Pradesh Congress in 2019, there has been a strength and renewed vigour in the organisation, but despite this, Congress remains the number four party in the state.
The main contest is believed to be between the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Samajwadi Party.
Uttar Pradesh Congress leaders were trained in Chhattisgarh to know about the 'Chhattisgarh model of poll management'.
According to sources, workers of Chhattisgarh Congress are already active in many Assembly segments and control rooms have also been set up in 78 constituencies.
Rajesh Tiwari, a close aide of Baghel, was made co in-charge of Uttar Pradesh earlier this year. Along with this, workers are also being trained against political opponents so that the organisation looks strong on the ground in every way, they added.
Baghel had adopted the same model in Chhattisgarh as the state Congress president, which resulted in a tremendous victory for the party in 2018.
In the beginning of the second week of October, Congress is going to start with"Pratigya Yatra" in Uttar Pradesh. As part of this campaign, Priyanka Gandhi will hold several meetings across the state starting from Varanasi.
Assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh are due in 2022.
In the 2017 Assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh, the Bharatiya Janata Party bagged 312 seats out of the 403-seat Uttar Pradesh Assembly while Samajwadi Party (SP) bagged 47 seats, Bahujan Samajwadi Party (BSP) won 19 and Congress could manage to win only seven seats.
Notably, the Congress party has been out of power in the state since 1989, that is, for more than 30 years. The last Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh representing the Congress party was Narayan Dutt Tiwari from June 1988 to December 1989.
( With inputs from ANI )
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