Congress appoints Kamal Nath as MP unit president

The Congress on Thursday finally appointed veteran leader Kamal Nath as president of its Madhya Pradesh unit. Jyotiraditya Scindia will be the campaign committee chief in the state where assembly polls are scheduled to be held by year-end.

The appointments come a few months before the state assembly elections, where the Congress is seeking to wrest power from the BJP.

Jyotiraditya Scindia was vying with Nath for the top Congress job, a keen battle that apparently resulted in the decision being delayed by almost a year.

"Congress President Rahul Gandhi has cleared the appointment of Kamal Nath and PCC president of Madhya Pradesh and Jyotiraditya Scindia as Chairman, Campaign Committee of the state,"AICC general secretary Ashok Gehlot said in a statement.

The Congress has been out of power in Madhya Pradesh for 14 years and hopes to capitalise on the huge anti-incumbency of the Shivraj Singh Chouhan government. Kamal Nath will be replacing Arun Yadav.

The party also appointed Girish Chodankar as the Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) chief for Goa, replacing Shantaram Naik who had resigned a few days ago.

The party also appointed four working presidents Bala Bachhan, Ramnivas Rawat, Jitu Patwari and Surender Chaudhary in the Madhya Pradesh state unit.