Senior Congress leader and former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Kamal Nath said on Monday that he is going to be active in the State’s politics and will not go to Delhi.
“I will remain active in Madhya Pradesh. Why will I go to Delhi?” Mr. Nath said responding to a question from reporters, after taking oath as an MLA at the State Legislative Assembly here.
Mr. Nath, who won from his pocket-borough Chhindwara seat, had not attended the first session of the 16th Assembly that was convened on December 18, weeks after the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) swept the Assembly election with 163 seats. The Congress led by Mr. Nath could only manage 66 seats. The Assembly has a total of 230 seats.
After the poll debacle, Mr. Nath was also replaced as the State Congress president with Jitu Patwari. The move had given rise to questions about the political future of Mr. Nath and if he would rather be active in national politics.
Participates in MPCC meeting
The former CM, who had not been seen in various meetings of the Congress’s State unit since his removal as the president, took part in the MPCC’s political affairs committee (PAC) meet on Monday along with Mr. Patwari, AICC general secretary in-charge of M.P. Jitendra Singh and Rajya Sabha MP Digvijaya Singh.
While speaking to the media, Mr. Nath also said that the ongoing talks about seat sharing for the upcoming Lok Sabha election among the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) constituent parties will also bear results.
On January 7, the All India Congress Committee (AICC) announced names of its observers for 539 parliamentary seats across the country. Seat sharing discussions have also reportedly begun in various States.
Mr. Nath’s remarks about the INDIA bloc also hold significance as talks of a possible alliance between the Congress and the Samajwadi Party, another member of the alliance, for the November 2023 Assembly elections in M.P. had failed and had resulted in a bitter war of words between the leaders of the two parties.
SP president and former Uttar Pradesh CM Akhilesh Yadav had also accused Mr. Nath and senior Congress leaders of “betrayal”. He had warned that the Congress would receive similar treatment in U.P as was meted to his party in M.P.
