Chhattisgarh CM Bhupesh Baghel. (File)

The Congress government in Chhattisgarh has appointed 32 party leaders, including current and former MLAs, to senior positions in various boards, corporations and commissions. The first part of the list was released on Wednesday night and the remaining appointments were announced on Thursday.

On Wednesday night, the state government appointed six MLAs as chairmen or vice-chairmen of two development authorities. In all, 25 sitting MLAs have been given important posts in the last three days out of the 69 Congress legislators in the Assembly; 15 MLAs were appointed parliamentary secretaries earlier this week.

Out of the 32 party leaders appointed, 14 are from Raipur division, six from Bastar and four each from Surguja, Bilaspur and Durg divisions. Also, eight leaders belong to the OBC category, five to the ST category, two to SC category and three are from minority communities.

Former PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s niece and former MP Karuna Shukla has been made chairperson of the Social Welfare Board, and former Raipur Mayor Kiranmayee Nayak has been appointed head of the state women’s commission. Former MLA Mahant Ram Sundar Das has been appointed chairman of Rajya Gau Sewa Aayog, and another former legislator Padma Manhar has been made member of the State SC Commission.

“These hurried decisions to give posts is just a cover-up of dissent inside their ranks,” said BJP MLA and former minister Brijmohan Agarwal.
Chhattisgarh Congress spokesperson R P Singh said “people have full faith in the Congress government in Chhattisgarh”.