Congress will move new MLAs to Chhattisgarh, Punjab post 10 March

New Delhi: The Indian National Congress will be moving its winning Members of Legislative Assembly (MLAs) from Uttarakhand and Punjab to Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan once the results of the Assembly elections of these two states are declared on 10 March.
Congress strategists are going to execute this step to ensure that in case of a close contest, the Bharatiya Janata Party, as it has done in the past, does not break away the winning Congress MLAs. It is pertinent to mention that as of today, only Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan are the two states that have Congress Chief Ministers.
Of the five states that went to the polls in February and March, the Congress leaders believe that it is crossing the majority mark in Uttarakhand and Punjab. Apart from these two states, Uttar Pradesh, Goa and Manipur have gone to the polls and the result of all these five states will be declared on 10 March.
The incumbent CM in these three states and Uttarakhand are from the BJP, while Congress was in power in Punjab when the state went to the polls. Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel, who has swiftly risen in the party’s hierarchy in view of his astute political moves ever since being appointed as the state CM in December 2018, was handling the party’s campaign in Uttar Pradesh along with the number three in the party, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra. Baghel was appointed as senior AICC observer for UP elections in October 2021.
Party sources said that a majority of the winning Congress MLAs from Punjab and Uttarakhand will be sent to Chhattisgarh capital Raipur in view of the strict administrative control over the bureaucracy in the state that is exercised by Baghel, as it will ensure that these MLAs are safe from being poached by BJP strategists. The resorts and hotels that will house these MLAs from Uttarakhand and Punjab have already been identified.
Unlike other Congress leaders (read Rajasthan where Ashok Gehlot is the CM), Baghel after coming to power in Raipur, has ensured that certain powerful bureaucrats who went out of their way to help the previous BJP government of Raman Singh are brought under “control” through legal and administrative actions. In case the Congress does “well” in Uttar Pradesh, Baghel’s political stature will increase even more post 10 March.
According to Congress leaders, the party’s good performance in Uttar Pradesh will also end the speculation regarding Baghel being replaced as the CM of Chhattisgarh in favour of health minister T.S. Singh Deo. Grapevine in Raipur suggests that Baghel might be asked to come to Delhi and given a bigger role in view of the 2024 general elections, but this has been denied by sources close to Baghel, who say that he is not “at all” interested in leaving his present responsibility as the CM of Chhattisgarh.