Row after Arjun skips Congress training camp in Chhattisgarh

Raipur, Oct 13 (UNI) A controversy sparked in the opposition Congress in Chhattisgarh after Union Human Resource Development Minister Arjun Singh today skipped a state level training camp for partymen, scheduled to be addressed by Congress president Sonia Gandhi tomorrow.

The Congress veteran, who arrived in Chhattisgarh capital by a special plane this evening, was scheduled to address the party workers training camp at 1750 hours but did not turn up till the camp concluded for the day.

Congress president Sonia Gandhi is scheduled to address the three day training camp to be concluded tomorrow.

CPCC president Charandas Mahant was not immediately available for comments.

While sources close to Mr Singh said that attending the party workers training camp was not included in the Union Minister's itineary, an official circular released by the office of Raipur district collector indicated he was scheduled to attend the meet from 1730 hours to 1830 hours.

Senior party leaders are tightlipped over the reason due to which Mr Singh skipped the state level meet. However, party sources attributed it to the ongoing infighting within the state party organisation.

The intra-party rivalry within the state Congress has reached such a level that Pradesh Congress Committee (CPCC) could not be constituted even nearly a year after Dr Charandas Mahant was appointed as the state party chief.

Mr Mahant has been facing criticism from a major section of partymen for being ''inactive'' ever since his appointment as president of the state party unit. Besides, these party workers also claim he was unavailable within the state as he mostly ''prefers to stay either in Delhi or in Bhopal''.

Congress president Sonia Gandhi is scheduled to arrive here by a special aircraft tomorrow afternoon.

Later, she will hold meetings in phases with the trainees attending the camp before addressing a public meeting at the Rajkumar college grounds.

The Congress president will return to New Delhi at 1800 hours.

UNI AS PR DB2236