Former chief minister and Madhya Pradesh Congress Committee chief Kamal Nath on Wednesday said that he will never leave Madhya Pradesh in his lifetime and will keep serving the people of the state with the Congress family. He said those who keep saying Kamal Nath will leave MP should hear this message very clearly.
The ex-CM who was the sole big face of party's campaign for the crucial bypolls in the state, was addressing the members of Congress legislature party including the newly-elected nine MLAs, party candidates for bypolls, in-charges of election and the district presidents of Congress at a meeting held at his official residence on Wednesday evening. He said that he has never let the heads of Congress members hang in shame.
The assertion of Kamal Nath seeks to put a stop to the rumours that the ex-CM might give up the post of MPCC chief and move away to Delhi. The BJP had been making claims all through the bypolls campaign that after November 10, Kamal Nath will pack his bags from MP.
There are, however, still speculations that Kamal Nath might give up the post of leader of opposition in the state Assembly and some leader from Gwalior-Chambal region might be appointed to the post. However no such indication came during Wednesday's meeting.
Rather, ex-chief minister Digvijaya Singh said during the meeting that everyone in the MP Congress had confidence in the leadership and experience of Kamal Nath.
Kamal Nath himself further claimed that he knew of possible horse-trading in the state since October last, but he decided not to become part of the trading game so that the name of MP was not tarnished.
“There is only one principle in my life, do everything sincerely. When I resigned (as chief minister) on March 20, I had two options – one to leave everything and go away or to stay here and serve the people. I decided that I will stay and serve. I will not leave the Congress family alone and face every challenge,” he said.
He expressed gratitude to all the Congress members who worked hard for the bypolls with great dedication. “It is true that the results are not favourable for us, but we are not the ones to lose courage. We will keep struggling. We will start the fight for 2023 (Assembly polls) from this moment. The next target is civic bodies and panchayat elections and we have to start working for it right away,” the ex-CM said.
Kamal Nath spoke of the challenges he and the party faced since May 1, 2018, when he was made the MPCC chief. He said everyone struggled sincerely to form the government in the state. The government worked with goals of public welfare and did its best in the 11.5 active months that it got.
“But we should not get depressed. We have seen the period of 1977 (post emergency) when people said that the Congress was finished. We have also seen the times when BJP had one-two seats in the parliament,” Kamal Nath said.
He added that together the party members will review and analyse the results. He asked all those attending the meeting to submit their own reports about the loss. “I will also review the loss myself. This defeat is unexpected, we lost even in those booths where we never lost earlier,” the MPCC chief said.
Addressing the meeting, ex-chief minister and Rajya Sabha member Digvijaya Singh also said that the BJP's win was unexpected and that the Congress lost in the booths that it never lost since independence. He alleged that the administration fully supported the BJP and even the Election Commission of India ignored Congress’s complaints.
Saying that everyone had confidence in the leadership, experience, activeness and the electoral management of Kamal Nath, he said the party should start getting ready for 2023 Assembly polls right away.
Former MPCC chiefs Suresh Pachauri and Kantilal Bhuria, member of parliament Nakul Nath, former leader of opposition Ajay Singh and senior leaders like Rajmani Patel, Govind Singh, Chandrabhash Shekhar, Prakash Jain, Rajiv Singh, Rajendra Singh and others were present at the meeting.
