"If High Command Asks...": Bhupesh Baghel After Meeting Congress Leaders

While speaking to reporters after a meeting at 10 Janpath, Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel also said that he was ready to take up responsibilities for the assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh that are coming up next year.

If the Congress high command asks someone else to step in as Chief Minister of Chhattisgarh, it will be so, said Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel on Sunday, after attending a meeting with the party's interim president Sonia Gandhi. Amid speculation about the agreement to be the Chief Minister of the state just for two and a half years, Mr Baghel said, "The high command instructed me to take the oath (as Chief Minister), so I took the oath. When they will say someone else will be the Chief Minister, then it will be so. Such agreements happen in a coalition government." While speaking to reporters after a meeting at 10 Janpath, he also said that he was ready to take up responsibilities for the assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh that are coming up next year. He said, "Congress has a three-fourth majority in Chhattisgarh. I met (Congress General Secretary) Priyanka Gandhi ji; now meeting (senior leader) PL Punia ji. If the high command gives me any responsibility for upcoming elections in UP, I will do it."