Madhya Pradesh Congress president and former Chief Minister Kamal Nath on Tuesday said that the party’s face for the 2018 Assembly election depended on acceptance by the public.
“You [the media] and I have heard the statements of the party leaders. Where do you find restlessness in them? In the end, it will be the face that the public will accept,” said Mr. Nath at a press conference in Mandsaur. He was responding to a question on the recent exchange of words between two party senior leaders.
Earlier, Leader of Opposition in the MP Assembly Govind Singh had said that the Congress was a democratic party and it was not its tradition to announce the Chief Ministerial candidate in advance. The public would elect the MLAs, who would then choose the Chief Minister. In response, party MLA Sajjan Singh Verma said that the leaders wanted Mr. Nath as the State’s Chief Minister, adding that Mr. Singh should behave in the manner in which he expected others to do with him.
Mandsaur firing
Mr. Nath, who is leading the Congress’ campaign in the State and is the most visible face on the ground, held the press conference in Mandsaur where he addressed a ‘Kisan Swabhimaan Rally’ on the occasion of the sixth anniversary of the 2017 Mandsaur police firing. On June 6, 2017, five farmers were killed in police firing and another in custody after their protest for a fair price for their crops turned violent.
Earlier, during the rally that saw a sizeable gathering, Mr. Nath hit out at the ruling BJP and Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan. “I bow down to our farmers who were raising the voice for justice and shot dead, They made the sacrifice not for themselves but for every farmer in the State,” he said.
