After a crisis hit its government in Madhya Pradesh, the Congress is planning to include more leaders in the state cabinet and restructure the organisation. Party leaders said that the plan has been devised to quell dissidence after five Congress MLAs seen in the Opposition BJP’s camp in the past six days.
“The grudge of almost all the MLAs, including the Congress MLAs and the MLAs from BSP and SP besides an independent MLA, who the BJP tried to poach, is chief minister Kamal Nath ignored their merit while having decided not to induct them in his cabinet. They also nursed grudge that several such MLAs were inducted in the cabinet who didn’t deserve to be there. Hence, cabinet expansion is badly required now,” said a Congress leader who did not wish to be named.
It’s required because the four independent and two BSP MLAs and the lone SP MLA have been giving their support to the government right from day one. Of them, only one independent MLA was given ministerial berth, said the leader. “The only question that remains to be unanswered is when the exercise of cabinet expansion will be carried out by the chief minister.”
“The party high command is considering organisational restructuring to quell dissidence in the party. However, it will begin with the appointment of the new state president. Chief Minister Kamal Nath is holding the post of state Congress president as well since May 2018. A new president will be able to give enough time to the organisation and address the issue of dissidence more effectively. Chief Minister Kamal Nath himself has gone on record saying that he is willing to see a new state Congress president,” said another senior Congress leader on the condition of anonymity.
State Congress spokesperson Pankaj Chaturvedi said, “Cabinet expansion is prerogative of chief minister Kamal Nath. Whenever he takes any decision on the same it will be known. As far as organisational restructuring is concerned I can’t comment on the same as I don’t have any authorised information as of now.”
On Saturday, Digvijaya Singh had gone on record saying that cabinet expansion should take place after state assembly’s budget session. However, a section of party leaders are of the view that it should be done at the earliest – before the budget session – to not allow BJP to take advantage of such a volatile political situation.
Singh had claimed last week that BJP leaders indulged in horse-trading and offered Rs 25 crore to Congress and other MLAs, asking them to switch sides.
Chief Minister Kamal Nath later endorsed Singh’s statement.
But the BJP said the Congress has betrayed its MLAs after forming the government in Madhya Pradesh. “Congress is working on a number of steps including cabinet expansion and organizational restructuring now but Congress MLAs want to know from the chief minister Kamal Nath and Congress high command why they were treated with disrespect in the past 15 months. People of Madhya Pradesh want to know from the CM why they were betrayed by him and Congress after showering promises on them during the state assembly elections. They don’t have an answer,” said state BJP spokesperson Rahul Kothari.
Meanwhile, Bisahulal Singh, one of three Congress MLAs, who was incommunicado for the past five days, was contacted by the minister for tourism Surendra Singh Baghel on Sunday. Congress leaders had earlier said that Singh was staying somewhere in Bengaluru.
Though details of what transpired between the leaders are awaited, state Congress president’s media coordinator Narendra Saluja released a photo of Singh with the minister at, what he said, was Bengaluru airport.
“Senior leader and MLA Bisahulal Singh had left for Bhopal from Bengaluru. He remained trapped by BJP in Bengaluru for the past three days. The senior MLA has said to us that he was with Congress right from day one and would remain with the party. He also said his support was with chief minister Kamal Nath,” said Saluja.