NEW DELHI: According to sources, Bhupesh Baghel has been offered the position of special observer to Jharkhand.
After getting poor feedback of Jharkhand unit leadership, Congress high command is planning to curtail the powers of Ghulam Ahmed Mir who is a general secretary in charge of the state. This comes alongside the replacement of the state unit president Rajesh Thakur.
According to sources, the former chief minister of Chattisgarh, Bhupesh Baghel has been offered the position of special observer to Jharkhand. However, a section of leaders suggest that he has declined the offer, and further proposed to make him general secretary in charge of AICC and give him an independent charge of a state.
Interestingly, Mir’s functioning has been questionable due to which the high command is continuously scrutinising the formulae they can use to make the Jharkhand cadre stable. A senior Congress leader said, “They have not ruled out the quick replacement of Mir. He can get removed. It would be very interesting to see that both, first state unit chief and then general secretary can be removed just before elections. But unless and until it doesn’t happen, we cannot be sure that he will be replaced. But it is for sure that he is under fire from the top leaders. That is why the high command is looking for someone who can be a special observer to the state, and this will subsequently reduce his power.”
Sources close to Baghel said that the high command has gone into contemplative mode over the Jharkhand leadership and may be looking for a quick change. For that, they may consider Baghel as a choice for the role of Jharkhand in charge.
Baghel (64), popularly known as Kaka, served as the third chief minister of Chhattisgarh from 2018 to 2023. He was also the president of Chhattisgarh Pradesh Congress from 2014 to 2019.
Moreover, he represents the Patan constituency in the Chhattisgarh Legislative Assembly since 2013, and has earlier as well been the legislator from 2003 to 2008. He had served as the cabinet minister of transportation in undivided Madhya Pradesh under Digvijaya Singh’s government from 1999 to 2003. He was the first minister for revenue, public health engineering and relief work in Chhattisgarh.
According to a political analyst closely aware of Congress affairs, “Baghel has performed badly in Assembly elections. Everyone was expecting that Congress is going to win, but they lost. Then, in the recently held Lok Sabha elections as well, he lost his seat. Electorally, he has performed badly in his own state. But the Chattisgarh had seen good days under his presidency of the state. Therefore, he is seen as someone who can administer things well.”
The expert also added, “At the same time, if Mir gets dethroned, it will be his biggest and quickest downfall. He was just an MoS being brought at the centre stage and he failed to gain the credibility for himself. What is interesting is that he wanted to be the state unit chief of his own state Jammu and Kashmir, but there as well, he wasn’t even considered in the list. The three names that came up this week initially were Tariq Hameed Karra, Lal Singh and Tarra Chand, but finally it was Karra who was given the baton of leadership.”