Published Jul 13, 2023 | 4:54 PM ⚊ Updated Jul 13, 2023 | 5:25 PM
CM Bhupesh Baghel with Deepak Baij. (Twitter)
Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel said, on Thursday, 13 July, that the Congress’ move to appoint leaders below the age of 50 to at least half of the party positions has started from the state with the appointment of Deepak Baij (42) as the president of the state unit, said Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel on Thursday.
Baij, who represents Bastar parliamentary constituency, was appointed as the Chhattisgarh Congress chief by party president Mallikarjun Kharge on Wednesday, replacing MLA Mohan Markam.
Asked about the decision, Baghel told reporters, “Different people in the organisation are given different responsibilities. Mohan ji has completed two terms and changes are being made (in Congress organisations) in all states.”
Baghel said that in the recently held plenary session of the Congress in Raipur, it was decided to give 50 percent of party positions to those below 50 years of age.
“So It has begun from Chhattisgarh as Deepak ji is aged 42 years,” he said.
The chief minister said Baij’s appointment will have a “good impact” on the Chhattisgarh Assembly elections, due by the year-end. The Congress has 71 MLAs in the 90-member Assembly.
About the likelihood of a Cabinet reshuffle, he said, “Keep watching and waiting.”
There had been uncertainties over Markam’s continuation as the state Congress chief amid a buzz that Baghel was reportedly unhappy with his many decisions.
The latest move that possibly went against Markam was the reshuffle of general secretaries last month which Chhattisgarh Congress in-charge Kumari Selja later cancelled.
There were also speculations that Congress won’t take the risk of replacing the incumbent tribal leader with a non-tribal person and ignoring the Bastar region.
छत्तीसगढ़ प्रदेश कांग्रेस कमेटी के नवनियुक्त अध्यक्ष श्री दीपक बैज जी को नए दायित्व के लिए बधाई एवं शुभकामनाएँ।
हमारे निवर्तमान अध्यक्ष श्री मोहन मरकाम जी का संगठन का सफल नेतृत्व करने के लिए आभार।@DeepakBaijINC @MohanMarkamPCC pic.twitter.com/c2UaGPS2mF
— Bhupesh Baghel (@bhupeshbaghel) July 12, 2023
Baij, a prominent young tribal face of the party from the Bastar region, is popular among youths, particularly tribals.
A two-time MLA from the Chitrakot assembly constituency (Scheduled Tribe reserved), Baij quit after he was elected as a Member of Parliament from the Bastar Lok Sabha seat in 2019.
His victory against the Modi wave’ brought him to the limelight.
Baij has been vocal in raising pro-farmer and pro-tribal issues in the Assembly as well as in Lok Sabha.
He was elected as an MLA for the first time in 2013 and then for the second consecutive term in 2018.
The Congress gave him a ticket in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections to cash in on his rising popularity as a youth leader from Bastar region in south Chhattisgarh, which comprises seven districts.
He was awarded Adarsh Yuva Vidhayak Puraskar by the Indian Student Parliament, MIT Pune, Maharashtra, in 2017.
While making a major organisational change ahead of assembly polls replacing its incumbent chief who is also a tribal and hails from the same Bastar region, the party tried to maintain the balance of caste and regional equations to consolidate its electoral position, experts said.
The opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) took a jibe at the Congress and accused the grand old party of using Markam as a part of its “use and throw” policy.
State BJP chief Arun Sao said, “Markam ji had been vocal against the corruption of the Congress government. He exposed many cases of corruption in the Baghel government including in the DMF. This corrupt government did not like it and removed him by hatching a conspiracy as a part of its use and throw policy.”
There is not even an iota of internal democracy left within the Congress. This is dangerous. Tribal society is insulted, Sao said in a statement.
“Markam ji was running the party under the authority he got under the Congress’s constitution and therefore he was on the target of ’10 Janpath’. Markam ji should quit Congress,” he added.
(With PTI inputs)
