A midnight rush by Congress to form the government in Madhya Pradesh has the country looking at the party’s two faces — state Congress chief Kamal Nath and senior leader Jyotiraditya Scindia.
Even as Nath and Scindia are vying for chief ministership, party supremo Rahul Gandhi said that the party has effectively "ironed out" tensions among the leaders within the party in various states ahead of the elections.
So, who will get the throne? Speculations are rife with a majority believing that the senior party member Kamal Nath will be made Madhya Pradesh’s next chief minister.
When Kamal Nath was named the Congress chief in Madhya Pradesh in April ahead of the Assembly polls, many in the party recalled that former prime minister Indira Gandhi described him as her "third son" who helped her take on the Morarji Desai-led regime in 1979.
Thirty-nine years later, the senior-most member in the 16th Lok Sabha donned the battle gear to help Indira Gandhi's grandson and Congress president Rahul Gandhi make huge gains for the Opposition party in the central Indian state, where Shivraj Singh Chouhan has been the longest-serving chief minister.
According to the latest available results and leads on early Wednesday, 12 December, the Congress had secured 112 seats in the 230-member state Assembly. The Congress' tally in the outgoing House was only 58. The BJP, which had 165 MLAs, either won or was leading in 110 seats in a see-saw battle for a majority, which is 116.
Along with Jyotiraditya Scindia, Nath, 72, was tasked with reviving the fortunes of the Opposition Congress in Madhya Pradesh, where the party has been out of power since 2003 and had to face a BJP onslaught in the final days of electioneering.
The BJP attacked Nath after an audio-video clip went viral in which he was heard asking clerics to ensure 90 percent voting in the state's Muslim-dominated areas to ensure a Congress victory.
Nath is a nine-time Lok Sabha MP from Chhindwara.
People in Chindwara refer to the district as an 'oasis' in the dirt. There are also references like 'keechad mein kamal'.
Indira Gandhi’s ‘Third’ Son
Indira Gandhi once introduced Nath in Chhindwara, saying, "This is my third son. Please vote for him," recalled senior journalist Sunil Shrivastava, who covered that election meeting.
When Nath was chosen by Rahul Gandhi as the state Congress chief in April over Jyotiraditya Scindia, the Lok Sabha member from Guna and scion of the erstwhile Gwalior dynasty, the MP Congress unit was riddled with factionalism.
Nath made efforts to bring together senior party leaders - former MP chief minister Digvijay Singh, Scindia and Suresh Pachouri - well aware that groupism may have had a role in keeping the party out of power for the last 15 years.
He ensured that regional satraps got representation in the allotment of tickets. The Congress also made judicious use of the energetic Scindia to pull voters towards the party by appointing him the state campaign committee chief.
After the ticket distribution, the state Congress roped in Digvijay Singh to quell dissent in the party.
The state Congress was able to withdraw most of its rebels from the election arena, an area in which the BJP did not fare well.
As electioneering started, Nath trained his guns on the BJP, knowing that Chouhan's popularity, built over schemes for every section of society, needed to be countered.
How Nath has Campaigned
Under Nath's leadership, the state Congress focused its campaign on "unfulfilled" promises of Chouhan, whom the party dubbed as "ghoshnaveer" (a man of hollow promises), a term that sparked street debates over the fate of schemes announced by Chouhan.
As the electioneering gained momentum, the state Congress launched the slogan "Waqt hai badlav ka" (time for change has come) to pull voters towards the party.
Born in Kanpur in Uttar Pradesh to businessman father Mahendra Nath and mother Leela, Nath is an alumnus of the prestigious Doon School (at Dehradun in Uttarakhand). did his graduation from St Xavier's college, Kolkata, before taking a plunge into politics.
Scindia, who spearheaded the Congress campaign in Madhya Pradesh, said he was very confident that the Congress would form the government in the state.
Asked about posters being put up that Kamal Nath would be CM, Scindia said: "Lets not put the cart before the horse. Let us wait for the verdict." He said the trends reflected the people's desire for a change.
Scindia made the remarks after landing in Bhopal.
(With inputs from PTI)
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