If Congress says someone else will be Chhattisgarh CM, it will be so: Bhupesh Baghel

Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel on Sunday said he was ready to step aside to make way for a new leader if the party leadership asked him to do so.

Baghel made these remarks after a meeting with AICC General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra amid reports that Chhattisgarh Health Minister T S Singh Deo wanted the party leadership to honour the rotation formula of changing the chief minister after two-and-a-half years.

“The high command instructed me to take the oath (as chief minister), so I took the oath. When high command says someone else will be the chief minister, then it will be so,” Baghel told reporters here.

However, he hastened to add that such arrangements happen in coalition governments but Congress had a three-fourth majority in the Chhattisgarh assembly.

Baghel said he was ready to take any responsibility for the Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections should the party high command ask him to do so.

The Chhattisgarh Chief Minister had played a key role in the Assam Assembly elections, camping in the state for weeks together for booth level management and reviving the grassroots organisation.

Congress lost the Assam assembly elections and BJP succeeded in retaining power for a second consecutive term.

AICC General Secretary P L Punia and Singh Deo said there was no formula for having a “rotational chief minister” in Chhattisgarh.