Madhya Pradesh Congress Chief Kamal Nath Resigns as LoP in State Assembly

Nath resigned as the LoP as per the Congress party's 'one-person-one-post' policy.

Former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Kamal Nath. 

(Photo: The Quint) 

Former Madhya Pradesh Congress Chief Minister Kamal Nath resigned as the Leader of the Opposition (LoP) in the state Assembly on Thursday, 28 March, as per the party's 'one-person-one-post' policy. He will continue as the chief of the party's MP unit.

The Congress leadership accepted Nath's resignation, and instated Congress MLA Govind Singh as the leader of the Congress Legislature Party (CLP).

KC Venugopal, the general secretary of the All India Congress Committee (AICC), had written to Nath on Thursday, saying, "The Congress president has accepted your resignation from the post of Leader, Congress Legislature Party (CLP), Madhya Pradesh with immediate effect."

Venugopal further added that Nath would continue as the party's chief in the state, where Assembly elections are scheduled to be held next year.

The former chief minister was appointed the president of the party's state unit in 2018 ahead of the Assembly elections. The Congress was able to return to power under his leadership and Kamal Nath took oath as the chief minister.

Sources close to Kamal Nath claimed that he had stepped down on his own accord to better prepare for the upcoming elections.

"Most of the work was already being handled by Dr Govind Singh anyway. Kamal Nath now wants to focus entirely on the polls and so he stepped down from the post of leader of opposition thus giving himself more time and opportunity to gear up for the 2023 elections."

Sources said.

Govind Singh, who is considered to be a member of Digvijay Singh's camp, has been given the charge of 'leader of the opposition' to help him boost his image for upcoming elections, sources said.

However, other sources within Congress' MP unit said that Kamal Nath's resignation was a decision taken by Delhi leaders to provide space for other leaders.

The party doesn't want to risk anything like the Scindia fiasco, moreover inching towards the elections there are going to be specific role distribution for every one and with Kamal Nath the party has just started the scheme. They want to provide space to all leaders and so Kamal Nath was asked to step down.

Sources

Nath's Reluctance To Leave Party Chief Post Pushed Scindia to Joining BJP

Many believe that the position of the party's state unit chief was the bone of contention between Jyotiraditya Scindia, who wanted to be the chief, but the party backed Kamal Nath for this seat as well.

Nearly 15 months after the party came to power in MP after 15 years of Bharatiya Janata Party rule, Scindia jumped ship and joined the BJP along with 22 other MLAs.