After Poll Rout In Madhya Pradesh, Call To Upgrade Jyotiraditya Scindia

The factionalism brewing in the Madhya Pradesh Congress on Tuesday became overt as three ministers of Kamal Nath government, demanded that Jyotiraditya Scindia be given charge of the state party. Women and child development minister Imarti Devi and Food minister Pradyumn Singh Tomar have constituencies located near Guna, the family borough of Jyotiraditya Scindia. Revenue minister Govind Singh Rajput is known to be close to the leader.

The demands follow the party's humiliating defeat in the election, where it failed to win more than one out of the state's 29 Lok Sabha seats. The lone lawmaker was Nakul Nath, the Chief Minister's son, who won from family turf Chhindwara.

On Monday, while Mr Nath -- who is also the state Congress chief -- tried to hold a postmortem of the Lok Sabha elections, ministers close to Jyotiraditya Scindia lobbied for the party post for him.

The 48-year-old son of the late Madhavrao Scindia, lost the family seat of Guna as part of the party's washout in a state it won less than six months ago.

On Tuesday, the ministers went on record with their demands.

"If the party wins or loses, the Chief Minister or the party chief is responsible. If our party president has taken the responsibility and many state chiefs have resigned... In Madhya Pradesh, the Chief Minister is also the state Congress president and he wants to leave one post," Govind Singh Rajput told NDTV.

After the Congress's rout across the country, resignations have been flowing in from its various state unit chiefs. Even party chief Rahul Gandhi has said he would step down, triggering another crisis for the Congress since the weekend.

"I feel that in our organisation, we should have separate leadership for the state and the party. In my opinion Jyotiraditya Scindia is perfect for the role," Pradyumn Singh Tomar told NDTV.

The ministers, however, denied that this is a demand from the faction following Mr Scindia.

"This demand is not from the Scindia camp, this demand is from every worker from the state, if he wants to be the state president he can be tomorrow itself," Pradyumn Singh Tomar told NDTV.

Jyotiraditya Scindia, a close aide of Congress chief Rahul Gandhi, was a contender for the post of the Chief Minister in Rajasthan after the Assembly elections in December. He was persuaded to fall in line after multiple meetings with the party's top leaders and 72-year-old Kamal Nath was named the Chief Minister and asked to retain the party chief's post.

"It is not a race, it is not about kursi (chair)," Mr Scindia tweeted the same evening.

But in the run-up to the elections, the two leaders worked at cross purposes - the most notable being the crossover of Mayawati's candidate from Guna to the Congress and his extending support for Jyotiraditya Scindia.

Mayawati, whose support is contributing to the wafer-thin majority of the Kamal Nath government was furious and threatened to pull off support. It was left to Kamal Nath to save the day.