FATHER, DEAR FATHER

IT WAS supposed to be an exercise to showcase unity, but Congress leaders ended up doing the exact opposite.

Congress leader Chaya Verma and Chhattisgarh Pradesh Congress Committee (CPCC) president Bhupesh Baghel, two senior leaders of Chhattisgarh, who held a joint media conference in Raipur on April 7, to show unity in the party, ended up portraying themselves as “victims” of their “fathers’ machinations”.

Ending her two-week-long sulk following withdrawal of party ticket for Raipur Lok Sabha constituency she had been promised, Ms Verma said, “Mr Sharma has called me his daughter. How can a daughter be bitter towards her father?”

But it didn’t take her long to bare her heart, and she told journalists that she was truly upset over the manner in which she had been dumped.

Mr Sharma had made a public announcement of his wholehearted support to Ms Verma after she was given the party ticket. Soon, however, Mr Sharma was in Delhi, lobbying for his nomination from Raipur constituency. Finally, the battle for Raipur ticket, that lasted nearly three weeks, was won by him, leaving Ms Verma embittered. Mr Baghel, breaking his silence for the first time over his father Nandlal Baghel’s “rebellion”, accused his father of making controversial statements to gain media publicity.

Senior Baghel has accused the Congress of ignoring backward class candidates in ticket distribution and announced his support for BJP candidates hailing from those communities. His statements have stirred a controversy in the Congress, causing huge embarrassment to the PCC president.