Congress leaders named for first time in Chhattisgarh FIRs are both close to its ex-CM Bhupesh Baghel

Among eight Congress leaders named in the recent FIRs filed by the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) over the alleged coal levy and liquor scam cases in Chhattisgarh, are two former ministers of the Bhupesh Baghel government. Of them, Amarjeet Bhagat, who held the Food, Civil Supplies and Consumer Protection portfolio, has been named for the first time in the cases. In the case of the other, U D Minj, Baghel has said that he figures “as he had contested against thecurrent Chief Minister Vishnu Deo Sai” in the 2023 Assembly polls.

Apart from Bhagat and Minj, former excise minister Kawasi Lakhma was booked in the liquor scam case, while Congress MLAs Devendra Singh Yadav, Chandradev Prasad Rai, Brihaspat Singh, Gulab Kamro and Shishupal Sori were named in the coal levy case FIR.

Baghel has said that the move showed “the narrow and vindictive mindset” of Sai, and said the FIRs had been registered with “an eye on the Lok Sabha elections”. “For three years, the Enforcement Directorate and Income Tax have been investigating, and now they have filed FIRs. When they were investigating it, they did not name Lakhma, Bhagat or MLAs Minj and Kamro. Are you at liberty to defame anyone at will? Today, suddenly, they name Congress leaders. This is a clear attempt to defame Congress leaders ahead of the Lok Sabha elections.”

As per the FIRs, Bhagat received Rs 50 lakh from Suryakant Tiwari, the alleged kingpin of the scams, as kickbacks during his tenure as Minister for Economics and Statistics (July 2020 to December 2022).

The 55-year-old is a senior tribal leader from the Surguja tribal belt, from where the Congress lost all the 14 seats in the November 2023 Assembly elections. Bhagat, a four-time MLA, lost the Sitapur seat to retired CRPF