Baghel's political ascendancy in Chhattisgarh raises party tensions

In the Rajiv Gandhi era, Kamal Nath, Ashok Gehlot and Digvijaya have had the opportunity to serve as union ministers, state party chiefs and parliamentarians when Bhupesh Baghel, a district youth Congress leader from Durg used to raise “Kamal Nath Zindabad, Digvijaya Singh zindabad.”

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However, nearly four decades later, the 63-year-old is far more comfortably placed than these party stalwarts. In fact , going by various survey reports and pollsters' predictions, Baghel is set to return as chief minister of Chhattisgarh. Going by these pre-polls opinion poll surveys, they predict a bleak future for Gehlot while Nath’s fate hangs in balance.

Bhupesh Baghel was a Digvijaya Singh found way back in 1983 when young Baghel was thinking of becoming a full-time socialist, raising the bogey of Anti-English stir and becoming a leading light of Manva Kurmi Chhatriya Samaj that represents the Kurmi community having large representation in areas that are now part of Chhattisgarh.