But defers decision after party seniors advise him to wait till the five assembly election results are out
NEW DELHI : In yet another shock to a deeply demoralised Congress, former Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Ajit Jogi (70) on Thursday threatened to quit the party and float his own party to take on the Raman Singh government of BJP. He went to the extent of describing the Congress in Chhattisgarh as a ‘B-team’ of the corrupt Raman Singh government.
He has been planning to quit the Congress since December 2013 when Rahul Gandhi appointed his bête noire Bhupesh Baghel as the Chhattisgarh Congress president. He has been hinting his intention to the party leaders to leave the party whenever he visited Delhi, but everyone lost interest as he always deterred from carrying out his threat.
Even on Thursday, he has kept a window of reconciliation open by leaking his plan in Raipur to quit the party instead of announcing his final decision. He had originally planned to float a new regional party on April 29 on his birthday, but then deferred the decision on the party seniors advising him to wait till the five assembly election results are out.
No surprise, the party chose to play down the news coming from Raipur. At the AICC press briefing, spokesman Jairam Ramesh was careful in commenting on him. “If it is true that he has left, it is unfortunate, Jairam said, underlining that there are many instances of one is in “departure lounge” one day and in “arrival lounge” the next day.
“Jogi has been a respected Congress leader. The party gave him so much in the past 35 years; he was MLA, MP, chief minister, party spokesman and also part of the highest-decision making body of the CWC (Congress Working Committee),” Jairam added.
RAJYA SABHA SEAT: Insiders say Jogi was lobbying for a Rajya Sabha berth from Chhattisgarh, but the seat falling vacant on retirement of Mohsina Kidwai went to Chhaya Verma, a former district panchayat chief, infuriating him to call it a day with the Congress. His expelled MLA son Amit has already laid ground for a new political outfit, waiting for the father to formally take the charge.
Being permanently wheel-chair bound due to a spinal injury, Jogi”s movements are restricted to become any major challenge to the Congress. Even amassing resources for running a new party will be a tough challenge since he is out of power for the past 13 years since after being the chief minister from 2000 to 2003.
