Raipur (Chhattisgarh) [India]: Assam Chief Minister and BJP leader Himanta Biswa Sarma has claimed that the Congress intends to remove Chhattisgarh CM Bhupesh Baghel from leadership post after the assembly elections of the state conclude.
Speaking to the media here, Sarma claimed to have access to internal information about the Congress, given his 22-year association with the party.
“As per the information I have, Congress has decided that Bhupesh Baghel’s name should be removed from banners and posters. This has started in the last 10 days. I was in Congress for 22 years, so I get internal information about the party. After the elections, Congress will remove Baghel from the leadership post either immediately or gradually,” the Assam CM said.
Sarma arrived in Chhatisgarh’s Raipur ahead of state assembly elections for the campaigning for his party which is putting its effort to make a comeback in the state.
Sarma also slammed Congress and said that Akbar is more important than Bhupesh Baghel for Chhattisgarh Congress.
“Congress complained against me when I spoke about Akbar. It would have made sense to file a complaint if I had spoken something against TS Singh Deo or Baghel or any Congress leader. I think, for the Chhattisgarh Congress, Akbar is more important than Bhupesh Baghel. Why is Akbar so dear to you (Congress)?” he said.
Meanwhile, the Election Commission of India on October 26 issued a show-cause notice to Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sarma over his speech during the Chhattisgarh poll campaign in Kawardha.
The Election Commission in the show-cause notice mentioned that certain parts of Himanta Biswa Sarma’s speech on October 18 have been found to be “prima facia violative”.
The Assam Chief Minister also spoke about the BJP manifesto in the Chhattisgarh election.
“The manifesto released by BJP will be pure gold, BJP It will take the right decision at the right time, this time BJP will release a good manifesto, wait a little, a much better manifesto will be released,” he said.
Speaking about alleged religious conversion in Chhattisgarh Sarma said, “Conversion is not an issue in Chhattisgarh, it is a social issue, it is a very big issue, this is a criminal conspiracy happening against us, if Chhattisgarh has to be saved then there must be some big law.”
The system will have to be taken against conversion, conversion should not be done with greed, if I question the Chief Minister, Bhupesh Baghel himself will be against conversion.”
Chhattisgarh is going to polls in two phases in November. The first phase of polling for 20 seats in Chhattisgarh will be held on November 7. After the first phase of polling on November 7, the remaining 70 seats in the state will go to polls on November 17. The counting of votes will be done on December 3.
Elections in Chhattisgarh will be contested on 90 assembly seats and both the major contenders in the state, BJP and Congress, have released their final list of all 90 candidates in the state. Earlier in the 2018 assembly polls, the Congress witnessed a landslide victory, winning 68 seats out of 90 of those against the then-ruling BJP, which acquired 15 seats.
