Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel has relieved T.S. Singh Deo from the Panchayati Raj Minister portfolio, following his resignation last week.
Senior Cabinet Minister Ravindra Choubey was appointed as the State's Minister of Panchayat and Rural Development, even as both the Ministers will now keep their other portfolios.
This brings an end to the confusion whether Mr. Singh Deo was the Panchayati Raj Minister or not. While Mr. Baghel and Mr. Singh Deo are locked in a long-standing power tussle, the Chief Minister, in his public appearance, had said that the party would sort out every issue together. Mr Choubey’s appointment is also a sign that talks, if any, on Mr. Singh Deo reconsidering his decision, have failed.
Meanwhile, Mr. Singh Deo, congratulated his “experienced Cabinet colleague Mr. Choubey for getting the responsibility of the Panchayat and Rural Development portfolio”.
Earlier, on July 16, Mr. Singh Deo, stepped down as the Panchayati Raj Minister after attacking his own government for failing to construct 800,000 houses meant for rural poor under the Centre's flagship Pradhan Mantri Aawas Yojana (PMAY) and accusing that his position as a Minister had been undermined against the set protocol in an unfair manner.
The Opposition Bharatiya Janata Party had stepped up its attack ever since the resignation and had been pressing the government to clarify whether Mr Singh Deo was the Panchayat and Rural Development Minister or not.
In the ongoing Monsoon Session of the Assembly, the party MLAs have also been aggressive on the issue. “The government has been indiscriminately borrowing money and is yet unable to pay the matching grants for construction of houses under PMAY. We have asked the government to clarify the stand in the Assembly but no reply has come so far… The State is in dire straits,” said leader of Opposition Dharamlal Kaushik.
