Kamal Nath will be the Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh. Decision on Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh is likely today.
A nine-time Member of Parliament from Chhindwara, Madhya Pradesh, the 72-year old Kamal Nath has been declared as Congress’s pick for the Chief Ministerial position in an election that almost declared a hung-verdict.
The formal announcement was made late in the evening at a meeting of the Congress Legislature Party of newly elected MLAs, with the 47-year old Jyotiraditya Scindia, the other candidate who could have filled this role, supporting the veteran Kamal Nath. Congress President Mr Rahul Gandhi tweeted “The two most powerful warriors are patience and time. – Leo Tolstoy,”, hinting that perhaps Scindia would have to wait for his treasured post. He posted a picture of him flanked on both sides by these two leaders.
Mr Nath’s swearing-in is expected to happen today, though there has been no official update regarding this.
The Congress has astounded sceptics by winning three out of the five states that went into Vidhan Sabha elections in mid-November – Madhya Pradesh, Chhatisgarh and Rajasthan. The other two states – Mizoram and Telangana – overwhelmingly chose their regional parties over both Congress and BJP. The official results for Madhya Pradesh declared a Congress win of 114 seats, or 49.6%, with BJP trailing steps behind with 109 seats, or 47.4%. This trend is also somewhat seen in Rajasthan, with Congress winning 99 seats, or 49.5%; but here, the BJP could secure only 73 seats, or 36.5%, as other regional parties took away 21 seats, or 10.5% of the votes. In Chhattisgarh the Congress victory was more pronounced with 68 seats, or 75.6%, versus a paltry 15 seats, or 16.7%, for the BJP. Mizoram elected the Mizoram National Front to power, and Telangana the Telangana Rashtra Samithi, or TRS.
