PCC chief Kamal Nath obvious Congress face for MP election battle

NEW DELHI: “I take this (assignment) as a big responsibility and as a great opportunity,” senior Congress leader Kamal Nath toldETsoon after Rahul Gandhi on Thursday appointed him president of the Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) of Madhya Pradesh which goes to elections this year-end. “During the past many, many years, nothing has happened in Madhya Pradesh as far as governance and administration are concerned. It was all mere optics. The time has come to change it,” Nath added, spelling out his mission in his home state where the BJP has been ruling for 15 years.

Even as Nath readies to take charge of MPCC next week, after completing one of his last tasks –– as AICC general secretary in-charge of Haryana of overseeing the mobilisation for Rahul Gandhi’s public rally in Delhi on Sunday –– Jyotiraditya Scindia, who too was in the race, has been made chairman of the campaign committee.

The Congress chief ministerial candidate is yet to be projected, but being made PCC chief, Nath obviously becomes the state Congress’ face in the poll battle. Till the time of going to press, there have been no comments from Scindia, who is away in his constituency, but is expected to join the Congress mission.


Party leaders said five major factors have tilted the scale in favour of 71-year-old Nath –– his potential to be a unifying factor in the faction-ridden state Congress by using his reach across factional faultlines; his ability to mop up resources for the state Congress in the polls and stitch delicate political deals; his long experience in power politics and administration at the Centre; his caste neutrality; and the crucial tactical backing he has received from the influential Digvijaya Singh during the highlevel discussions on deciding the leader for the electoral battle.

In his maiden outing in state politics, Nath’s main challenges will be to unify the Congress factions and woo back Congress’ lost social base, mainly the upper castes, to help the Congress ride on antiincumbency in a poll where Modi-Shivraj Singh Chauhan-Amit Shah trio will lead the BJP fire.

“I have good relations with all senior colleagues of my party, other party functionaries and workers. We all will work like a team,” Nath said when asked about how he will achieve the challenge of unifying the factional fights in the state Congress, something that also helped the BJP score a hattrick victory-.In fact, much before Digvijaya Singh embarked on his Narmada Parikrama yatra six months ago, there was an important meeting between Gandhi, Nath, Singh and Scindia, in which Singh, sources said, had made it clear that Nath’s leadership was the best bet for the Congress in this polls. Nath on Thursday acknowledged that meeting in a TV interview and said, “When we met, we told Rahulji, there was need for a change”. About Singh’s role, Nath said it was for Gandhi to decide. Congress also appointed four working presidents for PMCC

Bala Bachchau (a Nath loyalist and tribal), Ramnivas Rawat (Thakur and Scindia loyalist), Jitu Patwaria, (Digvijaya loyalist and a Patel), Surendra Chowdharay (close to Nath-Digvijaya and an OBC).