No-confidence motion against Congress govt defeated in Chhattisgarh

The BJP presented an 84-point chargesheet against the state government

ITDC INDIA EPRESS/ITDC NEWS R The no-confidence motion moved by the opposition BJP against the Congress government in Chhattisgarh where assembly polls are due next year, was defeated by voice vote in the state legislative assembly on Thursday. The assembly witnessed a stormy debate over the no-confidence motion as the opposition members targeted the Congress government over its "infighting", alleged corruption and non-fulfilment of its poll promises, while the ruling party rejected the charges claiming the opposition has failed to come up with any concrete issue. The BJP presented an 84-point chargesheet against the state government during the 13-hour debate on the motion, which was defeated by voice vote after midnight.

Congress in Chhattisgarh has been riven with infighting, with senior leader T.S. Singh Deo resigning as the minister of panchayat and rural development on July 16, over issues with Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel. In his four-page resignation letter to the chief minister, Singh Deo had claimed that he was unable to fulfil the targets set for the rural development department as per the Jan Ghoshna Patra (poll manifesto), given the "current scenario". In June 2021, the rivalry between Baghel and Singh Deo had come to the fore for a brief period after Baghel completed two-and-a-half years as chief minister.

Citing this letter, senior BJP MLA Brijmohan Agrawal hit out at the Congress government and said the no-trust motion was brought as a minister had himself expressed no confidence in chief minister Baghel. Neither the CM has confidence in his cabinet colleagues, nor the administration has faith in the government, he claimed. "Why didn't the chief minister expel that minister? The CM does not have the courage. Even the minister did not have courage and wanted to stick to the cabinet," Agrawal claimed