As Kamal Nath fails, murmurs of new chief & LoP in MP Congress

Bhopal: With the Congress suffering a massive defeat, speculation is rife that the party may witness major changes in Madhya Pradesh and a race among the top leaders has begun to replace state unit chief Kamal Nath and also occupy the leader of opposition (LoP) post in the Assembly.

The state Congress unit is scheduled to hold a meeting with all its 230 candidates, who contested the Assembly election, for introspection over the loss.

The meeting will be held at the party headquarters in Bhopal at 11 a.m. MP Congress President Kamal Nath and senior leaders Digvijaya Singh and Suresh Pachouri are among those who will address the meeting.

The Congress fought the election under the leadership of Kamal Nath, and now fingers are being pointed at him.

Sources said a murmur has begun within the Congress unit about a massive organisational reshuffle likely to happen in the next few days.

Whether the party decides to enact radical changes or keep this leadership team in place till the Lok Sabha elections will be keenly watched.

Sources said that the Congress high command is unhappy with Kamal Nath for meeting Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan in Bhopal on Monday.

Kamal Nath along with his son and Chhindwara MP Nakul Nath drove to Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan’s official residence in Bhopal to congratulate him for winning the Assembly election.

As speculation is rife that Kamal Nath may be replaced, several state leaders are hoping for the post. Same goes for the LoP post after Dr. Govind Singh lost the election from Lahar Assembly constituency of Bhind district.

Some other top leaders, who could have pushed themselves for LoP like Jitu Patwari (Rau - Indore), Kamleshwar Patel (Sihawal- Sidhi) have also lost the elections.

Even as several big names in the Congress lost, Ajay Singh ‘Rahul’, the son of former Chief Minister (late) Arjun Singh managed to win from Churhat seat of Sidhi district. In 2018 he lost to BJP’s Shartendu Tiwari.

Ajay Singh fought the election on his own as no top leader from the Congress party campaigned for him in Churhat. Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra addressed the last poll rally in Sidhi. Sources said Ajay Singh ‘Rahul’ is likely to push himself for the position of LoP.