Congress Fields Former Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel From the Rajnandgaon (Photo on X Bhupesh Baghel @bhupeshbaghel)

The Congress has fielded former chief minister of Chhattisgarh Bhupesh Baghel from the Rajnandgaon Lok Sabha constituency when it announced its first list of 39 candidates for the Lok Sabha elections. Popularly known as Kaka, Mr Baghel became the chief minister of the state when the grand old party won the assembly elections after 15 years in 2018. Being elected from the Patan assembly constituency, Mr Baghel served as the third chief minister of the state till the BJP overthrew the Congress government in 2023.

Mr Baghel has been a six-term Congress MLA from Patan assembly seat and has been currently representing the constituency. The veteran leader has held several important portfolios including the Minister for Revenue, Public Health Engineering and Relief Work and the Minister for Transportation. Born in 1960 in the OBC community, Mr Baghel has been an OBC face of the Congress party in the state.

Mr Baghel started his political career as a member of the Indian Youth Congress and was first elected to the state legislative assembly in 1993 from Patan. He served as the state Congress chief from 2014 to 2019 and notably, it was under his presidency the party won the state assembly election in 2018. After Chhattisgarh was carved out of Madhya Pradesh in 2000, he served as the opposition leader for a decade and then the third chief minister in 2018.

Notably, after the electoral bond information was outed following the admonition of the Supreme Court, Mr Baghel called it the biggest scam of the decade while expressing his confidence in the victory of the INDIA alliance in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.

The BJP government in the state recently filed an FIR against Mr Baghel in connection with the alleged Mahadev app online batting scam. However, the former chief minister responded saying that it is a move to influence the imminent Lok Sabha election.

Though the BJP has been winning Rajnandgaon Lok Sabha constituency for more than a decade, Congress will be giving tough competition by fielding Mr Baghel in the 2024 general elections.