Madhya Pradesh Congress To Soon Get New President, Says Kamal Nath

Two days after revealing that he had offered to quit after the drubbing the Congress faced in Madhya Pradesh in the Lok Sabha polls, Chief Minister Kamal Nath on Saturday said a new state party head would be chosen soon.

Mr Nath is currently Madhya Pradesh Congress president and his offer to resign from the party post had come against the backdrop of party's national president Rahul Gandhi offering to quit.

"There is going to be a new state Congress president. We have to fight the BJP's election machinery. For this, we have to build our election machinery like theirs. We have to shape the Congress' organisation in a new way," he told reporters on the eve of his Delhi visit.

He was responding to a query on whether Madhya Pradesh Congress would soon have a new chief. Mr Nath has been state unit chief since April last year.

Mr Nath's remarks come amid reports that Rahul Gandhi had expressed disappointment over none of the party leaders, holding top posts, taking responsibility for the party's Lok Sabha poll rout.

Kamal Nath on Saturday also informed that he had offered to resign in December last year, after he was chosen as chief minister post the Assembly polls, but he was asked to carry on.

Meanwhile, Madhya Pradesh Congress spokesperson Shobha Oza said, "Kamal Nath is going to meet the party's high command. The Congress will get a new state president."

After the Congress' defeat in the LS polls, Mr Nath had gone to Delhi to meet Mr Gandhi but could not get an audience, with sources claiming the latter was unhappy at the Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister for placing his son Nakul Nath's poll campaign above that of the party.

The Bharatiya Janata Party won 28 out of the 29 seats in the state and only Nakul Nath managed to retain Chhindwara, for long a pocket-borough of his father.

The Nath camp is believed to be pitching for state Home Minister Bala Bachchan, a tribal leader, as the next Madhya Pradesh Congress chief.

Mr Bachchan said, "I am a Congress worker. I have tried to deliver every responsibility given by the party with sincerity. I am ready to discharge efficiently whatever responsibility I get from the party in future."

A rival camp in the party wants general secretary Jyotiraditya Scindia to be made state unit head, sources said.

Mr Scindia lost the 2019 Lok Sabha polls from Guna.