Gehlot, Singhdeo, Kamal Nath in race

Aditi Tandon

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, December 11

Congress veterans Ashok Gehlot and TS Singhdeo are leading the race for chief ministership in Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh.

Lobbying for CM’s post in Madhya Pradesh also began tonight although the Election Commission was yet to declare the winner, with the Congress and the BJP posting close leads in a virtual cliffhanger.

Nine-time Lok Sabha MP of Congress from Chhindwara Kamal Nath remains the potential CM face in the state should the party form a government. Sources said party president Rahul Gandhi was likely to bank on old-timers to take charge, with the 2019 Lok Sabha election challenge still looming. Gandhi today said the issue of CM-ship would be “resolved smoothly” and he would “listen to MLAs”.

The Congress has already sent party leader in Lok Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge as the central observer to Chhattisgarh. AICC general secretary KC Venugopal to Rajasthan and former minister AK Antony to MP. 

The MLAs will meet tomorrow to elect their leaders. Gehlot, 67, currently AICC general secretary-organisation, has been a two-time Rajasthan CM, five- term MP and two- time Cabinet Minister. He has the backing of majority of legislators. Rajasthan Congress president Sachin Pilot, 41, who won his first MLA election from Tonk today, is widely hailed for resurrecting Congress in Rajasthan and remains in the race until edged out by Gehlot, who is described as the “comeback man”.

In Chhattisgarh, TS Singhdeo, 66, a three-time MLA from Ambikapur and an erstwhile royal, is ahead in the CM’s race. He is credited with drafting the party’s “Jana Ghoshna Patra” that worked well in Chhattisgarh elections with Congress sweeping the state, ending the 15-year rule of CM Raman Singh of the BJP.

Singhdeo was also the party’s lead campaigner who helped swing votes in Congress’ favour in Sarguja area (where Congress won all 14 seats) and Bastar (where Congress won all 12).

Also in the race for the Chhattisgarh CM’s post is Lok Sabha MP and Congress’ OBC cell chief Tamradhwaj Sahu, whom the party fielded in the state elections from Durg. He has won the seat. Chhattisgarh Congress chief Bhupesh Baghel may lose out in the CM’s race, having been caught in a sex scandal recently for which he had to spend some jail time as well. Former Union minister Charandas Mahant, a tribal, is another CM hopeful in Chhattisgarh. 

In MP, Kamal Nath, 72, is likely to emerge as favourite with ex-CM Digvijay Singh learnt to be backing him. Guna MP and Rahul Gandhi aide Jyotiraditya Scindia, 47, is also potential CM candidate though reports progressively suggest Gandhi’s tilt towards veterans.