Kamalnath
Kamalnath
While there are speculations about Kamalnath’s future in the Congress and people close to him have suggested that he is in a quandary over switching to the BJP. The former Madhya Pradesh chief minister saw his stock in the party take a hit after the defeat in December’s Assembly elections where the BJP won 163 seats while the Congress’ tally fell to 66 constituencies.
Kamalnath, a nine-time MP from his jebbaro Chhindwara, vacated the seat in 2019, after his son Nakul was elected from there. The first year before he took over as state Congress president after the party high command gave him the task of heading the party-ruled Madhya Pradesh Parliamentary Committee (MPPCC) ahead of the 2018 Assembly elections . . . . However, Kamalath’s tenure was filled with most of the highs and lows.
Winning the Assembly elections in 2018 was one of his highlights, followed by allegations that the power embedded was a low point, his tenure ended in a collapse in the Assembly elections last year following which Jitu Patwari was replaced by the MPPCC. Kamalnath took over as MPCC chief in May 2018, six months before the state elections. At that time, most Congress districts were unorganized and riddled with party divisions. Even some of his party offices lacked basic facilities like toilets. Taking a leaf out of his book, Kamalnath pushed for block-booth-level management, an approach that had helped him hold on to the Chhindwara seat successfully for four decades
Taking a leaf out of his book, Nath pushed for block-booth-level management, an approach that had helped him hold the Chhindwara seat successfully for four decades.Nath’s skills as a politician and a shrewd negotiator helped the Congress fill they overcame sectarianism and united the country. Once the group was united, albeit briefly, Chhindware Balishti is said to have introduced a data-driven approach to campaigning and decision-making in the MPCC He used surveys and surveys to establish specific demographics on, and composed a message. One of the former CM’s most important contributions was to identify himself as a devotee of Hanuman and move the party towards soft Hindutva, a move credited with helping the Congress drop the “anti-Hindu tag” labeled as it is effectively counter to the BJP Hindutva policy of the time. It was also viewed as Nath’s ability to effectively steer the party through heated ideological debates.
But the glow of his electoral victory was short-lived as 15 months into his reign, the Nath-led Congress government faced a coup led by Jyotiraditya Scindia and eventually collapsed. It was a major setback for the party and the weakness in the Congress cast doubt on Nath’s internal growth and ability to navigate politics in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, the BJP swept Madhya Pradesh and won 29 Lok Sabha seats of the 28. The Congress could hold on only in Chhindwara. Party sources said that even a section of the MPCC criticizes Nath’s leadership style and decision-making process. Adding to the party’s woes and creating obstacles to the unity and solidarity of the national party, Nath has been accused of centralizing and inconsiderate power The former CM, as the state election monitor, reportedly took a back seat before the last Assembly polls. He shared an uneasy equation with All India Congress Committee Madhya Pradesh in-charge Jaiprakash Agarwal, who refused to name him as the party’s CM before, eventually replacing him with Randeep Surjewala two months before the polls .