After poll defeats in three Hindi belt states, the Congress on Saturday replaced Kamal Nath with Jitu Patwari as the president of the Madhya Pradesh Congress Committee and named former Speaker of Chhattisgarh Assembly Charan Das Mahant as the leader of the Congress Legislature Party (CLP) in the state.
There have been no announcements for Rajasthan, where the party lost too. The development comes months ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
“The Congress president has appointed Shri Jitu Patwari as the president of the Madhya Pradesh Congress Committee with immediate effect,” an official communication from the party said.
“The party appreciates the contributions of outgoing PCC president Shri Kamal Nath,” it added.
Kamal Nath was appointed Madhya Pradesh Congress Committee president in 2018 and Patwari the unit’s working president.
By replacing Nath with Patwari, who was the working president of the Madhya Pradesh Congress, the grand old party has initiated a generational shift by bringing young leaders to the forefront.
“The Congress president has also approved the proposal of the appointment of Shri Umang Singhar as the CLP leader and Shri Hemant Katare as the deputy leader of Madhya Pradesh,” the statement said.
In Chhattisgarh, another statement said Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge has given his approval to a proposal to appoint Charan Das Mahant as the Congress Legislature Party (CLP) leader in Chhattisgarh with immediate effect.
“The Congress president has also approved the proposal to continue Deepak Baij as the president of the Chhattisgarh Pradesh Congress Committee,” it said.
In the recently concluded elections, results of which were declared on December 3, the BJP triumphed in 163 of 230 seats in Madhya Pradesh, 54 out of 90 in Chhattisgarh and 115 out of 199 in Rajasthan.