Kamal Nath removed as Madhya Pradesh Congress chief

AICC president Mallikarjun Kharge replaces Kamal Nath with Jitu Patwari as MP Congress chief and Charan Das Mahant as Chhattisgarh leader. OBC consolidation in BJP countered by Congress. Rajasthan next.

Days after the debacle in Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh Assembly elections, All India Congress Committee (AICC) president Mallikarjun Kharge on December 16 replaced Kamal Nath with Jitu Patwari as the MP Congress chief and named former Speaker Charan Das Mahant as the leader of the legislature party in Chhattisgarh instead of former Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel.

The change of leadership in these States is being seen as enforcing a system of accountability as the Congress was considered a favourite to win Madhya Pradesh and expected to repeat in Chhattisgarh.

In Madhya Pradesh, MLA Umang Singhar has been appointed as the Congress Legislature Party (CLP) leader in Madhya Pradesh Assembly, while MLA Hemant Katare will be the deputy leader.

“The party appreciates the contributions of outgoing PCC president, Shri Kamal Nath,” an AICC order read. Whereas in Chhattisgarh, Deepak Baij will continue as the Pradesh Congress Committee chief, the order said.

Mr. Patwari, a former Minister in the 15-month Kamal Nath government from 2018 to 2020, has been entrusted with the heading the State unit despite his defeat in the recent polls from Rau Assembly constituency in Indore district of Malwa-Nimar region where the BJP’s pick as the new MP Chief Minister Mohan Yadav hails from.

He has been holding the post of working president at the MPCC from 2018.

Mr. Patwari, a young OBC leader, appears to be the Congress’s attempt to counter the BJP’s OBC consolidation in the polls which it has tried to solidify after picking Mr. Yadav as the Chief Minister. OBCs alone form nearly 52% of the State’s total population.