BHOPAL: The humiliating defeat for the Congress in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls in Madhya Pradesh has triggered a demand for change in state party leadership.
At least two cabinet ministers of the Kamal Nath government have demanded that Congress national general secretary in-charge for West UP and former Union minister Jyotiraditya Scindia be made the MP Congress Committee (MPCC) president.
Women and child development minister Imarti Devi (a Scindia loyalist) and higher education and sports minister Jeetu Patwari have demanded that it’s time that a young leader, like Jyotiraditya Scindia, be made the state Congress chief.
“Scindia is best suited for the post, particularly due to being a young and charismatic leader, who has a future vision,” Patwari said.
While none of the other ministers in the Kamal Nath government openly demanded Scindia as the MPCC chief, two other ministers — animal husbandry minister Lakhan Singh Yadav and forest minister Umang Singhar — expressed hope that the party high command will take the right decision soon.
The issue came to the fore on a day when the CM and MPCC chief Kamal Nath chaired two meetings in Bhopal, first an informal meeting of cabinet colleagues and later the meeting of party MLAs and Lok Sabha candidates to figure out reasons behind the LS poll loss.
Sources present at the meetings said the BJP and PM Narendra Modi’s successful narrative of nationalism laced with Hindutva were seen as prime reasons behind the drubbing.
On Saturday night, Congress national general secretary in-charge for MP Deepak Babaria had told the media that CM Kamal Nath had offered to resign from the post-MPCC chief.
The state Congress spokesperson Shobha Oza and CM Kamal Nath’s media coordinator NS Saluja, however, had denied reports.