Kamal Nath, not Jyotiraditya Scindia, will be the 28th chief minister of Madhya Pradesh. According to sources, the Congress high command has decided in favour of Kamal Nath, putting to rest speculation that the name of party campaign committee chief, Jyotiraditya Scindia, was being considered for the top post.
The Congress legislature party, which met in Bhopal on Wednesday had given its consent on Kamal Nath, who was Madhya Pradesh state Congress chief. The Congress had fought and won the elections under the leadership of Kamal Nath.
The CLP meeting was attended by 114 newly elected Congress MLAs and four independent MLAs, who fought as Congress rebels. During the CLP meeting, a unanimous resolution, saying that the name of the chief minister will be decided by Congress president Rahul Gandhi, was passed.
Senior leader and AICC observer A.K. Antony who spoke to all the 118 MLAs to ascertain their views later flew to Delhi to inform the Congress high command.
A close aide of Scindia also denied media speculation of him being made the deputy chief minister. The aide argued, “Why would we accept a position that undermines our political stature? Instead, we will like to have our [faction's] man as deputy chief minister.”
Kamal Nath had been tipped for the post of chief minister from the Congress since the beginning of the election campaign in Madhya Pradesh when Gandhi told a public meeting that Kamal Nath was the senior leader, while Scindia “has a future”.
The oath-taking ceremony for the new Congress government will be held on Friday.
