Veteran Congress leader Kamal Nath on Thursday resigned as the Leader of Opposition in the Madhya Pradesh Assembly adhering to the party's 'one person-one post' rule. He will, however, remain the chief of the MP Congress. Accepting the resignation, the party leadership approved the appointment of former minister and seven-time MLA, Dr Govind Singh, as the leader of the Congress Legislature Party.
The Congress party's central leadership on Thursday wrote to the former Chief Minister intimating that the party had accepted his resignation. "The Congress president has accepted your resignation from the post of Leader, Congress Legislature Party (CLP), Madhya Pradesh with immediate effect," Congress general secretary KC Venugopal wrote in a communique, the news agency PTI reported.
"The Congress president has approved the proposal to appoint Dr Govind Singh as the CLP leader," he added.
Nath had been leading the Congress party's state unit for several years. Even after the Congress formed a government in 2018 and he became the Chief Minister, he didn't relinquish the post, setting up a public spat with Jyotiraditya Scindia -- who was credited for the victory. Scindia initially wanted the top executive post but he later agreed to settle for the post of the state Congress chief. However, as the central leadership decided to support Nath, his rival triggered a coup with 22 MLAs, toppling the 15-month-old Nath government.
Scindia ended his decades-long association with the Congress in 2020 and joined the BJP. He is currently the Union Minister for Civil Aviation in Prime Minister Narendra Modi's cabinet.
This development comes days after the celebrated election strategist Prashant Kishor presented a detailed revival plan before the central leadership.
According to reports, among the several suggestions made by Kishor were bolstering the leadership and internal democracy. He was also discussing his joining the party. The talks, however, fell apart on Tuesday with the strategist announcing on Twitter that he had declined the party's offer to join a panel formed to discuss the implementation of his recommendations.
Kishor made parting shots at the Congress leadership.
"I declined the generous offer of #congress to join the party as part of the EAG & take responsibility for the elections. In my humble opinion, more than me the party needs leadership and collective will to fix the deep rooted structural problems through transformational reforms," he tweeted.
