Congress high command will decide on leadership: Singh Deo

Senior Congress leader and Chhattisgarh Deputy Chief Minister T.S. Singh Deo said that the party’s high command will take a final call on leadership if it returns to power as speculations around a “2.5-year [power-sharing] formula” were not good

Senior Congress leader and Chhattisgarh Deputy Chief Minister T.S. Singh Deo on December 1 said that the party’s high command will take a final call on leadership if it returns to power as speculations around a “2.5-year [power-sharing] formula” were not good.

Mr. Singh Deo’s comment come on the backdrop of most exit polls predicting a slender lead for the ruling party, which is eyeing an encore. The “2.5-year formula” refers to a purported arrangement under which Mr. Singh Deo will replace Mr. Baghel as Chief Minister after two and a half years. 

“This [speculations around the power-sharing agreement] also puts strain on relationships, people are not able to respond to it. The issue comes up again and again in the media and questions are raised. When will the two-and-a-half-year period come to an end? When will this happen? Is it happening or not? When will the oath-taking ceremony be held? That does not create a good environment. So we have decided among ourselves that we leave it to the high command,” he told news agency ANI in Delhi in response to a question on the next CM if Congress wins. 

He added that such a power-sharing formula should never be implemented.

Later, speaking to The Hindu, Mr. Singh Deo said when such discussions are in the air, it creates an air of tension. “It becomes extremely difficult to answer the media repeatedly and supporters also ask these questions… high command will take the call,” he said. 

While the power-sharing formula was never acknowledged publicly by anyone in the Congress, Mr. Singh Deo, one of the senior Ministers in Mr. Baghel’s Cabinet and the party’s face in the Sarguja region, was reportedly miffed when he was denied the opportunity to be CM around two and a half years ago. The party leadership them placated him by making him the Deputy CM months ahead of the Assembly election. During the campaign for the recently concluded Assembly election, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, too, had raised the issue accusing Mr. Baghel of breaking a promise and antagonising old timers in the Congress. 

Exit polls have given the Congress between 40 and 57 seats [46 being the majority mark in the 90-member Assembly] but CM Baghel has claimed that it would cross 75, bettering the 68 seats it won in 2018. On the exit poll predictions, Mr. Singh Deo said he would be disappointed if Congress won anything below 60 or a two-third majority.