Mahant appointed acting PCC chief of Chhattisgarh

The 58-year-old leader will lead the party in Assembly polls which are scheduled by the year-end

Union Minister Charan Das Mahant was on Monday appointed the acting PCC president of poll-bound Chhattisgarh, a week after senior party leaders in the state including PCC Chief Nand Kumar Patel were killed in a Naxal attack.

Former state Minister Bhupesh Baghel has been made the Programme Coordinator of the Chhattisgarh PCC by party chief Sonia Gandhi with immediate effect, AICC General Secretary Janardan Dwivedi said.

Besides Patel, several other party leaders including Mahendra Karma were among the 27 killed in the May 30 massacre in Naxal-hit Bastar district. The attack had left 37 others including former Union Minister V C Shukla injured.

The announcement by the Congress would mean that 58-year-old Mahant, a former state Congress chief, would lead the party in the Assembly polls which are scheduled by the year-end. Mahant is considered close to AICC General Secretary Digvijay Singh.

The appointment by Gandhi comes a day after the AICC had announced that the party would resume the Parivartan Yatra during which the Naxal attack had taken place.

As an OBC leader, Mahant had emerged as one of the strongest contender to lead the party in the forthcoming election. In 2009, he had become the lone Congress MP from Chhattisgarh, winning the Korba Lok Sabha seat. Baghel is a tribal.

Former Chief Minister Ajit Jogi was also a strong contender.

Jogi had last week appealed to the party high command to keep the post of PCC president vacant till the assembly elections in the state are over.He had said this would be a perfect tribute to the slain leader and the party would contest the polls under his name only.

In the Assembly polls, Congress is going to make the alleged security lapse on the part of the BJP government its main campaign point.

Congress has been out of power in Chhattisgarh for 10 years.