'Poor Uddhav also…': Shivraj Chouhan's dig at Kamal Nath after MVA collapse

Jul 01, 2022 06:04 AM IST

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Madhya Pradesh chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan was in Jabalpur to campaign for urban body elections.

Madhya Pradesh chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan on Thursday took a swipe at Congress leader Kamal Nath who was sent to Maharashtra as party observer in the wake of political upheaval that saw the collapse of the Maha Vikas Aghadi government. Chouhan said it was strange of Congress to send a person to save the MVA government who couldn't save his government in Madhya Pradesh.

Madhya Pradesh chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan eats 'paan' after attending an election meeting, in Panna, Bundelkhand.(PTI)

“It's strange of Congress to send a person (Kamal Nath) to save Maharashtra govt who couldn't save his govt...Poor Uddhav also had to go...Congress has only one 'Nath', rest of Congress is 'Anath' (orphan),” Chouhan told reporters in Jabalpur where he was campaigning for urban body elections.

Kamal Nath had to step down as Madhya Pradesh CM in 2020 after 22 Congress MLAs, most of them loyal to Jyotiraditya Scindia, resigned from the Assembly. Congress was reduced to a minority which paved the way for Chouhan to return as chief minister after 15 months. The Congress turncoats were later inducted into the BJP and most of them won the assembly bypolls.

Eknath Shinde, Devendra Fadnavis face tough balancing act in role reversal

Chouhan's remark came the night rebel Shiv Sena MLA Eknath Shinde was sworn in as Maharashtra chief minister while BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis took oath as his deputy. With this, Congress has now been edged out of power in yet another state and now governs only Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh on its own, and Jharkhand in alliance with the JMM and the RJD.

It comes as a jolt to the grand old party which suffered a series of setbacks in the assembly elections earlier this year. While the party lost its government in Punjab, it failed to cash in on the perceived anti-incumbency factor against the BJP in Uttarakhand, Goa and Manipur.

Several prominent leaders, including former Union ministers Ashwani Kumar and R P N Singh, ex Goa chief minister Luizinho Faleiro, former Punjab Congress chief Sunil Jakhar and Gujarat Working president Hardik Patel, have quit the party in the last few months.