The Congress on Saturday made it clear that its current State president and former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Kamal Nath will be the CM if the party wins the Assembly polls due later this year.
When Congress national general secretary in-charge for the State Randeep Singh Surjewala was asked who would be the Chief Minister in the event of favourable poll results, he pointed towards Mr. Nath seated next to him and said, “Can’t you see who”. The two leaders were addressing a press conference announcing the party’s Jan Aakrosh Yatras [public anger tours] that will span all 230 seats of the State.
However, to the question about Mr. Nath contesting the elections, they said that the decision would be taken by the party’s Central Election Committee (CEC). Notably, in 2018, Mr. Nath hadn’t contested the Assembly polls but was sworn in as the CM after the Congress returned to power in the State after 15 years with the support of four independent legislators, two BSP MLAs and one SP MLA. He later won a byelection from his pocket-borough Chhindwara Lok Sabha constituency’s Chhindwara assembly segment.
‘Jan Akrosh Yatras to start on Ganesh Chaturthi’
Meanwhile, on the Yatra, Mr. Surjewala announced that the party’s seven Jan Akrosh Yatras, starting on Ganesh Chaturthi (September 19) will travel 11,400 km through all 230 assembly segments of the State in 15 days. Senior party leaders from the State — Govind Singh, Arun Yadav, Suresh Pachouri, Kantilal Bhuria, Kamleshwar Patel, Jitu Patwari and Ajay Singh ‘Rahul’ — would lead the various yatras.
Meanwhile, the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party’s five Jan Ashirwad Yatras are already in progress and will culminate in Bhopal where it is organising a Karyakarta Mahakumbh to be addressed by PM Narendra Modi on September 25.
