MP CM Kamal Nath Extends Olive Branch To Jyotiraditya Scindia

Bhopal: Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Kamal Nath attempted to reach out to senior Congress leader in the state, Jyotiraditya Scindia on Tuesday, as the political crisis in the state deepened. Kamal Nath observed that he had no objection to Scindia being made the MP Congress Committee President or being given a Rajya Sabha seat. The Madhya Pradesh chief minister and the Congress leadership reportedly failed to establish communication with Scindia.

Meanwhile, Madhya Pradesh Governor Lalji Tandon is reported to have cut short his holiday and is rushing to the state capital. Putting on a brave face, Kamal Nath claimed that the Congress would overcome the crisis caused by BJP and would not let mafias pull his government down. At least 20 MLAs loyal to Kamal Nath have submitted their resignation to the chief minister to give him the freedom to reshuffle his cabinet.

The Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister also held a cabinet meeting over the political developments in the state. Kamal Nath met Interim President of the Congress, Sonia Gandhi and Wayanad MP Rahul Gandhi in Delhi on Monday. Later, Rahul Gandhi is said to have met Sonia Gandhi late into the night on Sunday over the political crisis in MP.

Meanwhile, Jyotiraditya Scindia could not be reached and his phone had been switched off. The Scindia camp has at least 20 MLAs and 16 of them are holed up in Bengaluru, according to media reports, all of whom are reportedly incommunicado.

Kamal Nath faces the unenviable task of having to do a balancing act trying to manage both the Digvijay Singh camp as well as the Scindia camp. MLAs loyal to Digvijay Singh are said to be wary of the chief minister yielding too much ground to Scindia's followers for his own political survival.

Former Madhya Pradesh chief Minister and BJP leader Shivraj Singh Chouhan described the crisis in MP as an internal matter of the Congress party. He denied that the BJP had anything to do with the threat to the Kamal Nath government.