Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Kamal Nath, who has been fire-fighting over a crisis in the party and government, held a series of meetings today - one with the cabinet colleagues to keep his flock together, the other with party colleagues to analyze the crushing defeat, sources said. While the government is facing threat from the BJP, which had threatened to topple it after its huge victory in the Lok Sabha polls, the Congress also needs direction.
The challenges come as the bitter factionalism in the state Congress, an open secret for long, becomes public.
While Mr. Nath - who is also the state Congress chief -- tried to hold a postmortem of the Lok Sabha elections at a meeting with the candidates, ministers close to Jyotiraditya Scindia claimed a young, energetic leader like him be given the responsibility of the party. The 48-year-old son of the late Madhavrao Scindia has lost the family seat of Guna this time.
The controversy was triggered by party general secretary Deepak Babaria, who claimed the Chief Minister has offered to resign the party chief's post. In the evening, Kamal Nath was forced to give a clarification - that he offered to resign the party post "after the assembly elections in view of the responsibilities" and not now.