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MP Cong chief Kamal Nath quits as CLP leader. BJP’s first reaction is a swipe
Govind Singh, the seven-time Congress MLA in Madhya Pradesh, has been appointed as leader of Congress legislature party in the MP assembly.
BHOPAL: The Congress on Thursday appointed seven-time lawmaker Govind Singh as leader of the opposition in the Madhya Pradesh assembly, replacing MP Congress president Kamal Nath, who resigned from the post.
Nath has held the two positions, MP Congress president and leader of the opposition in the assembly, for almost two years after he resigned as chief minister in 2020 following a rebellion by party MLAs.
Govind Singh, who recently stirred controversy over his statement that he hasn’t joined politics for charity but to hold responsible positions, said, “I am happy that the party senior leaders have shown trust in me. I will continue my work of raising important issues in the assembly,” he added.
Asked, Kamal Nath said he wanted to focus on the 2023 state elections. “Elections are just 18 months away so I have work to do,” he said over the phone.
The change of guard comes two days after Kamal Nath, asked about his absence from the House, stoked a controversy.
“I don’t attend the session because I can’t listen to nonsense. Leaders of a party indulge in nonsense talk in the assembly,” he said, a reference to MP’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party leaders.
The remark prompted BJP state president VD Sharma to ask assembly speaker Girish Gautam to take action against Nath.
Within the Congress, dissent against Nath has been growing with senior leaders such as former state Congress presidents, Ajay Singh and Arun Yadav, accusing him of not consulting party colleagues leaders on important decisions. They also met party president Sonia Gandhi in this regard after which Nath had met them.
Congress leaders said that Nath has been asked by party president Sonia Gandhi to prepare for the 2023 assembly election. Nath met Sonia Gandhi thrice over the past month, the leaders said.
During these meetings, Nath is learnt to have indicated that he needed to devote more time to rebuild the party in the state at the ground level and work for the party’s revival in the state.
BJP’s VD Sharma was quick to take a swipe at Kamal Nath.
“Now, Congress leaders have realised that Kamal Nath can be a good manager or administrator but can’t be a mass leader. Nath used to remain absent from the assembly. He never took the assembly seriously and his recent statement exposed him. The Congress party must have asked him to resign to save the image of the party.”
MP Congress media in-charge Narendra Saluja said Kamal Nath decided to distribute the workload with colleagues because he intended to focus on the 2023 state elections. Saluja also said the BJP’s silence about its own affairs and a high-level meeting in Delhi on Madhya Pradesh indicated that “all is not well in the BJP”.
