New Delhi: Locked in a power tussle, Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel and his cabinet colleague TS Singh Deo are in the national capital to meet the Congress high command.


CM Baghel, appointed the Congress party's senior observer for the forthcoming Assembly elections in Himachal Pradesh, said that he would meet party leaders in Delhi on Sunday.


"I will also meet our leaders of Himachal Pradesh,” the CM told reporters at the Swami Vivekananda Airport on Saturday evening before leaving for the national capital, as quoted by news agency PTI.


TS Singh Deo, who was in Bhopal, also left for Delhi and will be seeking a meeting with the top Congress leaders, PTI reported sources close to him as saying.


On July 16, Deo resigned as the minister of Panchayat and Rural Development, though he retained his other portfolios.


In his four-page resignation letter to the chief minister, he claimed that he was not able to fulfill the targets set for the rural development department as per the Jan Ghoshna Patra (poll manifesto), given the "current scenario".


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Power Tussle Over Chief Minister's Post


In June 2021, the rivalry between Bhupesh Baghel and TS Singh Deo surfaced briefly after Baghel completed two-and-a-half years as CM.


Deo's supporters claimed that an understanding was reached in 2018 that Deo would take over as Chief Minister after Baghel completed half the term.


While Singh Deo later backed down after both the leaders met the party high command in Delhi, he recently voiced opposition to coal mine projects in the Hasdeo Arand forest area of Surguja district and hinted the truce was over.


Congress incharge of Chhattisgarh PL Punia said on Friday that the party's central leadership is "aware of the situation" and "whatever is required action will be taken". "TS Singh Deo has written (with) which the CM Bhagel doesn't agree. I also tried to speak to both of them. The central leadership is aware of the situation and whatever is required, then action will be taken," Punia told news agency ANI.


Baghel handed over the Panchayat and Rural Development portfolio to senior minister Ravindra Choubey.