Cong Chhattisgarh woes back as top leader quits post after a familiar Delhi snub

More than three years after he reportedly came close to being appointed the chief miner of Chhattisgarh, the state’s Home Miner and senior Congress leader Tamradhwaj Sahu resigned as the national president of the party’s Other Backward Class (OBC) department on Friday.
This resignation is likely to again fuel speculation about internal fissures in the state Congress, undermining Chief Miner Bhupesh Baghel’s attempts to dismiss talk of leadership change in the state. Some leaders in the party claimed that Sahu, the MLA from Durg, never gave up on his ambition to be chief miner even though he has never publicly talked about it.

pic.twitter.com/FHgWNuJ7MU
— Tamradhwaj Sahu (@tamradhwajsahu0) February 25, 2022

In his resignation letter, the miner claimed that he resigned as he was busy with two important posts and could not devote time to the OBC wing. But, he is believed to have been unhappy with the party about allegedly being neglected. Party insiders said Sahu wanted to campaign for the Congress in the Assembly elections in five states just like Baghel but wasn’t accorded much importance.

“Despite elections in several states, he was not made campaigner anywhere. The party has been playing the OBC card but the OBC wing’s national president was missing from the election campaigns. This has made him consider his professional priorities,” said a source close to the miner.
The manner of Sahu’s resignation is also telling. It is learnt that he quit the post almost a fortnight ago but wanted to hand over the letter to the Gandhis in person. The miner visited Delhi but reportedly did not get an appointment to meet them. In the end, he handed over his resignation letter to KC Venugopal, the Congress general secretary in charge of organisation. He returned to Raipur before tweeting it on Friday.

Within hours, the party released a statement, saying it “appreciates the contributions” of Sahu, and appointed former Haryana miner Capt Ajay Singh Yadav as his replacement. Some sources said the party’s top leadership felt a change was required in the OBC wing since Sahu had been at its helm for more than four years.
The miner’s resignation is likely to strengthen the murmurs about a crisis in Chhattisgarh Congress that gained strength last year after a series of trips to Delhi state miners, mayors, MLAs, and other party leaders. At the time, former Congress president Rahul Gandhi promised to visit the state within a week and end the squabbles once and for all. But Gandhi ended up visiting the state only earlier this month. He attended an exhibition on the “Chhattisgarh Model” of governance, but no comments were made on power-sharing arrangements.

At one point, according to political observers, Sahu was Baghel’s choice to replace him, if at all. But with his resignation from a prominent party post, the future of the once chief minerial contender is now clouded. With only one position to dedicate his time to, it will be interesting to see what he has in store for the Congress in the state.