Bhupesh Baghel leading the race to be Chief Minister of Chhattisgarh

As was the case with Madhya Pradesh and then Rajasthan, Congress president Rahul Gandhi tweeted a picture with the Chief Minister-hopefuls of Chhattisgarh, hinting that a decision had been made.

The announcement of the Naxal-affected state's CM is expected on Sunday, and sources said that it is most likely to be party's state unit chief Bhupesh Baghel.

Gandhi tweeted the picture with a quote from Reid Hoffman, the American venture capitalist who co-founded LinkedIn, which said, "No matter how brilliant your mind or strategy, if you're playing a solo game, you'll always lose out to a team." The picture shows Gandhi flanked by Tamradhwaj Sahu, Bhupesh Baghel, TR Singh Deo and Charan Das Mahant.

On December 13, the Congress president had tweeted a picture with Jyotiraditya Scindia and Kamal Nath, after Nath, a nine-time MP, had been chosen as Madhya Pradesh's chief minister. He posted the picture with a quote from Leo Tolstoy about patience and time being the two most powerful warriors.

On December 14, Gandhi tweeted a photo with Ashok Gehlot and Sachin Pilot, and captioned it 'The united colours of Rajasthan', after the state's former chief minister had been selected to for the top post again.

So obviously, speculation was rife on Saturday after he posted an image with the contenders for the top job in Chhattisgarh that a decision had been made.

Earlier on Saturday, Gandhi had held a string of meetings with the foursome. Congress' central observer Mallikarjun Kharge and AICC in-charge for party affairs in Chhattisgarh P L Punia were present at the meeting. He was joined by United Progressive Alliance (UPA) chairperson Sonia Gandhi.

The newly elected MLAs of the Congress party were holding a meeting late on Saturday night to announce the Congress Legislature Party leader in the state.

As suspense loomed over who would be the next chief minister, Deo, one of the hopefuls, told ANI, "We have more than one eligible name, that is why process is taking time, in any case final result came late on 11th so it has just been four days today. BJP which took more than 7-8 days to appoint its recent CMs should not comment on us."

Congress had secured a clear majority after winning 68 seats in the 90-member assembly.

Sources said that as the party had decided on Bhupesh Baghel, an upset TR Singh Deo had threatened to resign, and a lot of his supporting MLAs pitched for him. On the other hand, Baghel has helped build the party since 2013, when a lot of the party leaders in the young state were victims of Naxal violence.

As part of the poll promises, the Congress has vowed to implement farm loan waivers 10 days after forming government.

• Soucres said Rahul Gandhi met the quartet at his Tughlaq Lane residence in New Delhi and held discussions with them
• On December 11, Congress rose to power in Chhattisgarh after thrashing BJP and winning 68 of the 90 assembly seats