Chhattisgarh minister TS Singh Deo, locked in a power tussle with Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel, on Sunday didn't attend the Congress legislature party meeting held at the CM's residence citing "pre-planned engagements", a day after he relinquished a key portfolio.
A state minister told reporters after the CLP meeting that most of the legislators of Congress are hurt over the way Singh Deo has written a resignation letter to the chief minister. Sources said 64 of the 71 MLAs of Congress attended the CLP meeting. Singh Deo had given up the charge of the Panchayat and Rural Development department citing reasons like non-allotment of funds by the chief minister for the construction of houses under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana.
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The Congress legislature party meeting began after 7:30 PM to discuss the July 18 presidential poll and the state Assembly's monsoon session scheduled to begin on July 20, a party leader had said, adding that discussion on Singh Deo's issue could be held. In the evening, Singh Deo told PTI over the phone that he is in Ambikapur (Surguja district), his hometown and constituency, to attend pre-planned engagements and will not be able to attend the CLP meeting. He said he will arrive here on Monday to cast his vote for the presidential polls.
A statement issued by Singh Deo's office said the minister touring Ambikapur had earlier informed Secretary of the Legislature Party, Rajesh Tiwari, that he will reach Raipur on Monday for the Presidential election.
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Chhattisgarh Agriculture Minister Ravindra Choubey on Sunday night said most of the legislators of Congress are hurt over the way Singh Deo has written a resignation letter to the chief minister. “The way Maharaj Sahab (a reference to Singh Deo) has written a letter (to the CM), most of the MLAs have raised a big question mark over it. Most of them are feeling hurt over the way he has written about the working of the government,” he added.
Singh Deo had resigned as the Panchayat and Rural Development Minister but continues to hold health and family welfare, medical education, twenty-point implementation, and commercial tax (GST) portfolios. In his resignation letter to the chief minister, Singh Deo had claimed that not a single house was built for homeless people under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana as funds were not allotted despite "repeated request".
In the four-page resignation letter, Singh Deo cited various reasons, saying he was unable to fulfill the department's targets as per the vision of the Jan Ghoshna Patra (poll manifesto), given the "current scenario". When asked about what transpired at the CLP meeting, Choubey said the MLAs told All India Congress Committee's Chhattisgarh in-charge P L Punia, who is on a visit to the state capital Raipur since July 15, that they felt hurt by Singh Deo's letter.
Earlier in the day, Bhupesh Baghel had said he was yet to receive Singh Deo's resignation from the panchayat department and that he learned about the latter's move through the media. Punia had said that he had spoken to AICC general secretary K C Venugopal, sBaghel and Singh Deo on the issue and a necessary decision will be taken on it.
