Nath favourite in MP; game wide open in Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh

Aditi Tandon
Tribune News Service
New Delhi, December 12

Veteran parliamentarian Kamal Nath today emerged a clear favourite to lead the next Congress government in Madhya Pradesh but suspense persists as to who the Chief Ministers in Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh will be.

Though the Congress today staked claim to form government in all three states, the issue of leadership of its legislature party remained unresolved, with elected MLAs putting the ball in high command’s court.

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Congress president Rahul Gandhi will take the final call tomorrow after meeting the central observers (AK Antony in MP, Mallikarjun Kharge in Chhattisgarh and KC Venugopal in Rajasthan) he had sent to gauge the mood of the elected lawmakers. The MLAs in all three states eventually passed a one-line resolution, authorising the Congress president to nominate the CM.

In Madhya Pradesh, Congress sources indicated that Kamal Nath had emerged as the collective choice of the elected MLAs and he would finally be nominated by Rahul Gandhi. Guna MP and Gandhi aide Jyotiraditya Scindia is learnt to have backed Nath after Digvijay Singh proposed his name. Lobbying for the post in Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh continues with sources indicating that the Congress could consider the position of Deputy CM to stem friction.

“The Deputy CM pos is one of the options on the table. The party could exercise it, if need be,” a Congress insider said, hinting at Congress’ rivalries that have begun to play out despite Rahul Gandhi yesterday claiming the issue of CMs would be resolved amicably.

In Rajasthan, state Congress chief Sachin Pilot has thrown his hat in the ring. So has former CM Ashok Gehlot. AICC observer Venugopal today met the elected MLAs to elicit their opinion, collectively and individually, on who the CM should be.

Gehlot, who has been CM twice, has caste equations on his side. An OBC, he has vast organisational experience and is considered a loyalist of the Gandhi family. 

Pilot is a Gujjar — the caste whose enmity with Rajasthan’s dominant Meenas is legendary.  Another factor is age with seniors in the Congress arguing that Pilot, 41, has time on his side and a veteran should be picked to lead Rajasthan on the eve of the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. It is learnt that Pilot is staking his claim on the grounds that he has resurrected the party in Rajasthan over the past four years.

In Chhattisgarh,the race for the post is wide open with AICC observer Kharge holding consultations with the MLAs. Among the probables are three-term Ambikapur MLA TS Singhdeo, who was Congress Legislature Party leader in the outgoing government, and Tamradhwaj Sahu, president of Congress’central OBC cell and a sitting Lok Sabha MP from Durg. Sahu fought and won the state election this time.

Former Union Minister Charan Das Mahant, a tribal, is also in the race but state Chhattisgarh president Bhupesh Baghel may lose out owing to a sex scandal. 

Sahu is being backed by ex-AICC treasurer and party’s Chhattisgarh strongman Motilal Vora, who belongs to Durg which Sahu represents in the Lok Sabha. Singhdeo, an erstwhile royal, is locally popular.