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Journalism of Courage
The Congress Monday appointed Union minister of state for Agriculture Charan Das Mahant as its acting president in Chhattisgarh,eight days after the partys state chief Nand Kumar Patel was killed in the Maoist attack in Bastar. It also appointed former minister Bhupesh Baghel as the Programme Coordinator.
Mahant was given the post,which he has held earlier also, after a section of the state Congress demanded that the post of president must not be kept vacant till the election later this year. My first task is to console leaders who are aggrieved after the attack and then bring everyone together to fight polls and form the government, Mahant said.
Both Mahant,the only Congress MP from Chhattisgarh,and Baghel have been vocal critics of the BJP government of Raman Singh. Baghel had even dragged Singh to court last year for his alleged role in the illegal land acquisition by Balco,the first corruption case registered against the chief minister.
Best leaders have been appointed to lead the Congress in election year. We are hopeful of recovering from the tragedy and bounce back. We will soon announce a detailed programme of the Parivartan Yatra, state Congress spokesperson Shailesh Nitin Trivedi said.
The Congress plans to resume the Parivartan Yatra from the same place where Maoists attacked it last month and killed its leaders,including Patel,and Congress chief Sonia Gandhi and vice-president Rahul Gandhi are expected to join the rally on the last day.
