Madhya Pradesh: Kamal Nath takes oath as 18th Chief Minister of state

On Monday, senior Congress leader Kamal Nath took oath as the 18^th Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh. He took oath at Lal Parade ground in Bhopal in the presence of galaxy of political leaders and Congress workers.

Notably, Kamal Nath is also the chief of Madhya Pradesh Congress Committee (MPCC). Governor Anandiben Patel administered the oath of office and secrecy to Kamal Nath in the presence of Congress president Rahul Gandhi and others.

Congress president Rahul Gandhi and former PM Manmohan Singh were among others who attended the ceremony. BJP’s former Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan and other political leaders including National Conference President Farooq Abdullah, Congress leader Digvijaya Singh and Mallikarjun Kharge, Andhra Pradesh CM and TDP Chief N Chandrababu Naidu, NCP chief Sharad Pawar were also present on the stage.

LIVE: Swearing-in ceremony of Madhya Pradesh CM Shri @OfficeOfKNath from Bhopal. #IndiaTrustsCongress https://t.co/23peFacDZq

— Congress (@INCIndia) December 17, 2018

Importantly, Kamal Nath was one of the two front-runners for the post alongside his younger rival Jyotiraditya Scindia. The two leaders helped Congress defeat the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the saffron party’s bastion.

Last week on Thursday, Congress leadership announced Kamal Nath as Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister. The result of the Madhya Pradesh Assembly election was declared on December 11, and after a marathon process of counting of votes, the Congress emerged as the single largest party with 114 seats in the 230-member MP Assembly. It was two short of majority mark but Mayawati’s Bahujan Samaj Party decided to support it, thus ensuring a Congress-led government in the state.

Born in Kanpur, Kamal Nath is a nine-time Congress MP from the Chhindwara constituency of Madhya Pradesh. He also served as the pro-term Speaker of the 16th Lok Sabha and was appointed as the Union Cabinet Minister of Commerce and Industry from 2004 to 2009 during Manmohan Singh’s first term as the Prime Minister.

One of the longest serving and most senior members of the Lok Sabha, Nath has also served as the Minister of Urban Development.

Earlier, this year he was elected as the president of the Madhya Pradesh Congress Committee and led the party to a victorious 2018 state assembly elections campaign.

Nath is the first Congressman since Digvijaya Singh to become the chief minister of the Northern state. Digvijaya was succeeded by Uma Bharati in 2003. A period that started a 15-year BJP rule in the state –13 of which were ruled by Shivraj Singh Chouhan – until Kamal Nath’s appointment.

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