Madhya Pradesh Congress has announced that the 2023 assembly election would be fought under the leadership of MPCC chief Kamal Nath. The party said it has devised a strategy to prepare for the assembly poll.
Unlike widely expected, Kamal Nath did not relinquish his position as the Leader of Opposition in state assembly at the meeting of the party held on Monday. It was said that Nath could hand over the responsibility to someone else to focus on mission 2023.
Senior leader Dr Govind Singh, who in the past has expressed willingness to be handed over the post, had on Monday again wished to be given the responsibility.
Jitu Patwari, the Congress media cell chairman said that such meetings will now take place twice a month. Shivraj government will be cornered on the ground level and for doing so, agitations on issues such as inflation, unemployment and others, will be staged from panchayat to state level, he said.
After a long time, all the senior party leaders including Kamal Nath, Digvijaya Singh, Ajay Singh, Arun Yadav, Suresh Pachauri, NP Prajapati, Kantilal Bhuria along with all the second rung leaders came under a common roof and discussed poll strategy.
Further, Nath had been showing signs of intensified efforts to bring party leaders on the same page after a spell of discord with several of them and was seen with his old adversary Arun Yadav in a temple on Sunday. Since 2018, when Yadav was unseated as MPCC chief, both the leaders were having cold relations and never were seen together.
After the meet, Yadav put the newly found bonhomie on display tweeting that Congress state unit will fight the assembly polls under Rahul Gandhi and Kamal Nath.
Former finance minister Tarun Bhanot said that Shivraj government is burdening commoners with inflation and the state is buried under four lakh crore loans, state’s fiscal health is shaky and public is dented with price rise in petrol, diesel and LPG every day, he said. The leaders decided to raise awareness among the public on issues including farmers, price rise, joblessness and others.
Youth Congress (YC) national president Srinivas BV who was in Bhopal said that BJP and RSS were apprehensive of Gandhis which is why they engaged in malicious campaign against them. He reviewed progress of ‘Ek Booth Panch Youths’ campaign of the YC saying the youth wing will strengthen party’s grip on booth which will help in defeating the BJP.
With inputs from News18