In ED crosshairs in Chhattisgarh coal ‘scam’: Congress leaders close to Baghel, from treasurer to spokesman to first-time MLA

Here is a look at the Chattisgarh Congress leaders whose premises were raided by the ED.

Devendra Yadav and Dharmendra Yadav

Devendra Yadav, 33, is the youngest MLA in the Chhattisgarh Assembly. He hails from Bhilai and had been the mayor of the steel city from 2016 to 2021.

Devendra Yadav MLA

Devendra is close to Baghel, even as his elder brother Dharmendra Yadav, who was also raided by the ED, is said to be an old friend of the CM. Dharmendra, who had been the president of the Congress’s Bhilai district unit, played a key role in promoting his brother in the Congress. The Yadav brothers have a family business too.

A first-time MLA from Bhilai Nagar, Devendra has been an active Congress member since his college days. He was president of the Congress’s students wing NSUI in the state in 2009.

Ramgopal Agrawal

Ramgopal Agrawal

The Chhattisgarh Pradesh Congress Committee (CPCC)’s treasurer, Ramgopal Agrawal, who is also the state Civil Supplies Corporation chairman, is known for his proximity with Baghel. He has been associated with the Congress for decades, playing an active role in its organisational affairs even before Chhattisgarh was carved out of Madhya Pradesh as a separate state in 2000. Agrawal, who has multiple businesses including rice mills, has never fought an election.

R P Singh

CPCC spokesman R P Singh, who is now affiliated to Baghel, has also been under the ED scanner in the coal levy case. He was called by the ED for questioning Tuesday and was later let off. He has not taken a plunge in electoral politics so far.

RP Singh

Singh had lodged a complaint with the state Economic Offences Wing (EOW) against BJP leader and ex-PWD minister Rajesh Munat, alleging irregularities in the construction of an incomplete skywalk in Raipur during his ministerial tenure.

Singh has been aggressively going after the Modi dispensation over its silence on the Adani affair, targeting the ED for not taking action on Baghel’s letter written to the agency seeking a probe in the multi-crore chit fund “scam” allegedly involving the previous Raman Singh-led BJP government.

R P Singh was mentored by ex-minister late Mahendra Karma, the Salwa Judum movement founder, who was among many Congress leaders killed in a Maoist attack in 2013.

Girish Dewangan

The Chhattisgarh Mineral Development Corporation chairman, Girish Dewangan, is said to have risen in the state Congress ranks owing to his friendship with Baghel. Congress sources said, “Dewangan is seen as a trusted person by Baghel. He comes from a farmer’s family and is close to the CM.”

Dewangan was earlier a CPCC general secretary. His family members have also been affiliated to the Congress. He has a clean public image.

Vinod Tiwari

The director of the Chhattisgarh Housing Board, Vinod Tiwari, is seen as one of Baghel loyalists. Tiwari was once close to late Ajit Jogi, the first CM of Chhattisgarh and ex-Congress veteran. He was among a group of leaders who defected from Jogi’s party JCC (Janata Congress Chhattisgarh) to join the Congress a few months before the 2018 state Assembly elections. An ex-CPCC general secretary, he has also not contested any election so far.

Sushil Sunny Agrawal

Sushil Sunny Agrawal is the chairman of Chhattisgarh’s Building and Other Construction Workers Welfare Board. A former CPCC secretary, Agrawal is no stranger to controversies. He was suspended from the Congress in 2021 after getting into a brawl with another party leader over a parking dispute outside the party office. He was considered close to former AICC in-charge of Chhattisgarh, PL Punia.

A former national vice president of the Congress’s trade union INTUC, Agrawal is also a businessman. He used to provide logistics to the party and gained clout owing to his closeness with Punia, according to Congress sources.

Chandradev Prasad Rai

Chandradev Prasad Rai, who is an MLA from Baloda Bazar’s Bilaigarh, is a relatively new entrant in the Congress. A former school teacher, Rai quit his profession and joined the Congress barely a month before the 2018 polls.

Rai got the Congress’s ticket from the SC-reserved Bilaigarh seat after he had gained some prominence while leading a statewide teachers’ protest against the then Raman Singh government.

Chandradev Rai

Rai’s name in the coal levy case had cropped up in the Income Tax department’s investigation during their raids last year, said ED sources.

Most of the above leaders have been known faces in the state Congress and are considered close to Baghel. Some of them were alleged to have links with Suryakant Tiwari, the kingpin of the coal levy “scam”.

The ED’s raids may fuel infighting within the state Congress split mainly between the factions of Baghel and senior leader and CM-aspirant TS Singhdeo, with some fissures also surfacing now in the relations between the CM and CPCC president Mohan Markam.