BHOPAL: Nine-Time sitting Lok Sabha member and state Congress chief Kamal Nath will be sworn in as the new chief minister of Madhya Pradesh in a grand ceremony at Lal Parade Ground in Bhopal on Monday.A day after being elected the Congress Legislature Party (CLP) leader, Nath and other senior party leaders, including ex-CM Digvijaya Singh, leader of opposition in the outgoing state Assembly, Ajay Singh, and former state party presidents Arun Yadav and Suresh Pachouri met Governor Anandiben Patel at Raj Bhawan in Bhopal on Friday.
The national general secretary in charge of the state, Deepak Babaria, the ex-chief whip in the outgoing Assembly, Ramniwas Rawat, and Rajya Sabha member Vivek Tankha were also present. However, former Union minister and the state unit’s campaign committee chief, Jyotiraditya Scindia, was not among the Congress leaders who met the Governor, as he had flown from Bhopal to Delhi after the CLP meeting on Thursday night.
Nath submitted a letter to the Governor informing her of him having been elected the CLP leader on Thursday night, and formally staked claim to form the next government with the support of four independents and three BSP and SP MLAs. The Governor invited Nath to form the next government and council of ministers.
The oath-taking ceremony of the new CM and his council of ministers is scheduled for 1.30 pm on Monday.“Our priority will be to strengthen the agriculture sector to ramp up farm-based economy in Madhya Pradesh,” Nath told reporters at his residence here.Several top non-BJP leaders from across the country, including Congress president Rahul Gandhi, Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee, Andhra Pradesh CM N Chandrababu Naidu, Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal, and former UP CMs Mayawati and Akhilesh Yadav are likely to attend the ceremony.
The Congress has come to power in MP after 15 years, having won 114 of the 230 Assembly seats in the recent elections. Four independents (all Congress rebels), two BSP MLAs and one SP MLA are supporting the Congress government, taking the collective number to 121, five more than the simple majority mark of 116.
Choice of nath rocks punjab assembly
Chandigarh: After veteran Congress leader Kamal Nath was picked by Congress President Rahul Gandhi to be the next chief minister of Madhya Pradesh, the issue rocked the second day of the Punjab Vidhan Sabha session, as it was alleged that he was involved in the 1984 anti-Sikh riots in the aftermath of the assassination of Indira Gandhi. Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) MLAs walked out of the house on this issue, raising slogans against Kamal Nath, Sajjan Kumar and Jagdish Tytler. Aam Aadmi Party MLAs also raised the issue and registered their protest. Sukhbir Singh Badal, the SAD president, said the Congress party was promoting the perpetrators of the riots.