Bhopal: A day ahead of a crucial meeting of the Congress in Madhya Pradesh, political circles are abuzz with speculations on senior party leader Kamal Nath’s role in the coming days amid murmurs suggesting that the ex-Union minister and former Madhya Pradesh chief minister may quit as the Leader of Opposition.
Even as Congress leaders in the state refrained from making any remark, they submitted that any decision would be taken through the ‘democratic route’.
A senior Congress leader told IANS: “For us, it is not more important who should lead the party. In fact, it is more important to hold a discussion and make the party united to take on the BJP ahead of the assembly polls in 2023.”
Kamal Nath leads the Congress in Madhya Pradesh, and holds the post of the party’s state president, and the Leader of Opposition.
Since the last few months, some senior Congress leaders time and again have been camping against Kamal Nath, and directly or indirectly demanding change in the state leadership.
Some of them have also recently met Congress president Sonia Gandhi.
Therefore, a lot of speculations are being made about possible changes in the Madhya Pradesh Congress ahead of the meeting.
“Kamal Nath may offer to quit the position of leader of opposition, mainly because he has a lot of responsibilities in the state, as well as in the national level. He has always tried to bring unity to the party and he will be doing the same, whenever it is needed,” a senior Congress leader said on the condition of anonymity.
Recently, in response to holding the post of party president and Leader of Opposition, Kamal Nath has said that he has never applied for any post in the party.
“I never ever applied for any post in the party. Even when I was appointed as state president in 2018, I had not asked for the post. I was very happy in Delhi but the organisation gave me this responsibility and sent me here (Madhya Pradesh) in May 2018. Whatever steps are taken to strengthen the Congress, I will be happy,” Nath had said on March 31.
The meeting on Monday is expected to go on for hours, and the Congress leaders are likely to hold a discussion on the nomination of the party members for the Rajya Sabha.
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