Nath pips Scindia to be MP Cong chief

Aditi Tandon

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, April 26

Ahead of year-end Assembly elections, the Congress on Thursday revamped its Madhya Pradesh organisation appointing veteran leader Kamal Nath as the new state unit chief.

Congress’ chief whip in Lok Sabha Jyotiraditya Scindia has been named the campaign committee chief for upcoming MP elections where the party will face an incumbent BJP.

Congress president Rahul Gandhi has also appointed four working presidents in the state — Bala Bachhan, Ramnivas Rawat, Jitu Patwari and Surender Choudhry. The idea is to deepen the party’s organisational reach in the state where the BJP will make another bid on power after holding office for three consecutive terms.

The name of 72-year-old Nath had been in contention for the top post for a few months now, with party insiders describing the appointment as “overdue”. 

As the senior-most Congress MP in Lok Sabha (he’s serving his ninth term at present), Nath is seen as the best choice for the position, which was up for grabs for months. 

The delay in these appointments resulted in a tug of war between Nath and Scindia with the latter also seen as a potential future leader in MP. Gandhi, it is learnt, had preferred a younger Scindia as the state chief, but former MP Chief Minister Digvijay Singh’s backing for Nath worked in the latter’s favour.

Digvijay’s successful Narmada Yatra, which concluded recently, and his preference for Nath is learnt to have helped shape Gandhi’s decisions.

Sources also say nothing can yet be said of who will lead the race for chief ministership in the event of Congress’ good performance in MP.

“There are precedents of state unit chiefs becoming CMs and there have also been precedents of campaign committee chairpersons becoming CMs. In Punjab, state president Capt Amarinder Singh went on to become CM. In Himachal similarly, Virbhadra Singh was made the campaign committee chairman and also announced as the CM candidate,” a Congress source said.

Insiders say it would be worth watching whether Gandhi names a CM candidate ahead of polls in MP. “It’s unlikely because the leadership would want all camps to work together. Moreover, the Congress has announced CM candidates only in Punjab and recently in Himachal polls,” another leader said.