Leaders prepare to leave, forcing the Chhattisgarh Congress to start over from scratch

In anticipation of the Lok Sabha elections, the Chhattisgarh Congress has launched a damage control plan after many party officials left the party to join the state’s bitter adversary, the BJP.

In an effort to interact extensively with Congress members, the party has formed a state-level “samvad evam sampark samiti” (conversation and communication committee).

According to the Chhattisgarh Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC), the recently established 14-member committee will move right away to arrange frequent, friendly meetings and keep close ties with party leaders and cadres throughout the state. Dhanendra Sahu, the former state president, is the committee’s coordinator.

Three past PCC presidents, six former state ministers, the vice-president of the PCC, the head of the PCC war room, two former MLAs, and an AICC member are on the committee.

The committee is composed of members from different parts of the state, which allows them to stay in touch with party officials and activists in their areas on a daily basis.

A number of irate Congress politicians, office holders, and senior party members have joined the BJP in the state in recent weeks.

Congress spokespeople have responded to this apparent departure by claiming that some politicians left the party for selfish reasons and that others were coerced or lured into joining the BJP.

For example, Chintamani Maharaj, a BJP supporter who joined the Congress in 2013, joined the party again after being refused a Congress ticket for the 2023 assembly elections, referring to the denial as a “Ghar Vapsi” for him.

The outgoing leaders of Congress have expressed their displeasure with election administration, lack of recognition from party leaders, inadequate attention, and ticket distribution in the current and past assembly elections, among other issues.

After serving as the party’s general secretary for more than 20 years, Chandrashekhar Shukla departed Congress but alleged that brokers and leftists had infiltrated the organization and that the workers felt demoralized because their voices were being silenced.