The Chhattisgarh Congress will hold a legislature party meeting in Raipur on Wednesday at 8 pm to decide the next chief minister of the state. “All India Congress Committee’s observer Mallikarjun Kharge, AICC in-charge for the state PL Punia and other senior leaders will be present at the meeting,” state party unit general secretary Shailesh Nitin Trivedi told PTI.
In Chhattisgarh, the Congress won 68 seats, well above the majority mark of 46, dethroning the BJP government which had been in power for 15 years. The BJP managed to win only 15 seats. The Bahujan Samaj Party won two seats, and its ally the Janta Congress Chhattisgarh won five seats.
The frontrunners for the chief minister’s post are Congress Lok Sabha MP Tamradhwaj Sahu, state party chief Bhupesh Baghel and senior party leader TS Singh Deo.
“We humbly accept the mandate by the people,” Punia said on Tuesday. “They have not given us the right, they have given us a responsibility. They believed the promises we made in our manifesto. People trusted the words of Rahul Gandhi and gave us an agenda, we accept it.”
The Congress had a clear edge with its promise to raise the minimum support price of paddy to Rs 2,500 per quintal, while shrinking farm incomes, a slump in industry and a dip in social welfare went against the BJP in the state.
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