Simmering rivalry between former chief minister Ajit Jogi and his detractors in the Chhattisgarh Congress appears to have reached a boiling point, with the latter demanding that the party leadership rein in the bureaucrat-turned-politician and his son Amit Jogi in the interest of unity in the party.
The marathon meeting of the Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC), held here on Sunday, had been turned into Jogi bashing, with many senior leaders questioning “propriety” of the former chief minister and his son to organise party meetings in the state without taking the leadership into confidence.
“On what authority, Mr Amit Jogi, who is simply a Congress member, is organising party programmes in the state without bothering to inform about it either to the local or state leaderships? Dissidence in the party is growing because of such actions by Mr Jogi and his son. The Jogi members must be reined in to tackle groupism in the party. Their activities are proving detrimental to the interest of the party in the state,” Union minister of state for agriculture Charan Das Mahant, who is a known Jogi baiter, said while addressing the PCC meeting.
Mr Mahant was reportedly given tacit support by PCC president Nand Kumar Patel and Congress Legislature Party (CLP) leader Ravindra Choubey to raise the pitch against Mr Jogi apparently to cut the wheel chair-borne leader to size in the state party.
Another senior party leader and PCC member Bhupendra Baghel was more blunt in his tirade against the Jogi members. “On what capacity, the Jogi junior is moving around the state organising party programmes? His rivals complain that they were being targeted in the meetings attended by him, leading to division in the local units of the party,” he said.