Baghel bats for Rahul Gandhi as INDIA PM face

Ahead of the INDIA bloc’s meeting in Mumbai later this month, Chhattisgarh Chief Minister and Congress leader Bhupesh Baghel on Friday said he would want Rahul Gandhi to be its prime ministerial face.

He said the BJP is rattled by the popularity of Rahul Gandhi after his Kanyakumari-to-Kashmir Bharat Jodo Yatra and that is why he was disqualified from Lok Sabha and his official residence taken away.

“As a Congress man, I feel Rahul Gandhi should be the prime ministerial face,” Baghel told PTI in an interview. He was asked whether he would want Gandhi to be the face of the INDIA alliance in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.

“The BJP is very scared of Rahul Gandhi, that is why he was disqualified from Lok Sabha…made to vacate his bungalow,” he said, referring to the Wayanad MP’s disqualification from Parliament following his conviction in a defamation case. His Lok Sabha membership was later restored after the Supreme Court stayed his conviction.

The chief minister said the BJP is perturbed by Gandhi’s popularity, especially after the Bharat Jodo Yatra, during which he has met and touched the lives of scores of people.

Baghel said the main aim of the INDIA bloc is to oust the “dictatorial people from power” and asserted that any differences among its parties will be resolved through talks.

“Our biggest aim is to bring down the dictatorial people from power and that is why they have all come together. If there are differences, our leaders will resolve them through talks.

“Big party leaders are holding deliberations and are trying to work out solutions. They are all experienced people and I am sure, they will find a solution,” he said on differences within the opposition alliance.

He, however, said that ever since the INDIA alliance was formed, there is unease among the BJP leadership. “The manner in which their leaders, including the prime minister, are reacting, it is clear that they are under fear of this alliance.” The chief minister also targeted the prime minister for the attacks by him on the INDIA alliance over corruption and appeasement and dynastic politics, saying he has different yardsticks on corruption as he keeps attacking those who are in the opposition but stops soon after they join the BJP.

The prime minister attacked leaders in Maharashtra and Assam when they were in the opposition but stopped soon after they joined the BJP, he said.

More than two dozen opposition parties have formed the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) to take on the ruling BJP in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.

The third meeting of the alliance will be held in Mumbai on August 31 and September 1.