Madhya Pradesh: Congress will form next government with Kamal Nath as CM face, says Digvijaya Singh

Vidisha (Madhya Pradesh): Senior Congress leader Digvijaya Singh on Monday claimed the grand old party will form the next government in Madhya Pradesh by winning more than 116 of 230 seats and Kamal Nath will be the chief ministerial face.

The Assembly elections in MP are due later this year.

"We need 116 seats to form a government. We are going to get more than 116 seats. The party face will be Kamal Nath," the Rajya Sabha member told reporters when asked about the number of seats the Congress will win and who will be its chief ministerial candidate in the Assembly polls.

Nath currently heads the MP Congress unit.

Queried on Congress' face against Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the next general elections, Singh said this is not a presidential form of election.

"Under the Parliamentary form of government, elections are fought between parties in which a party wins, not a candidate," he added.

Calls Ladli Behna Yojana a election stunt

When asked about the demand by some Hindu preachers and BJP leaders to turn India into a Hindu Rashtra, Singh said if they don't have faith in Constitution, then all of them including BJP leaders holding constitutional posts should resign.

He termed as the "election stunt" the Ladli Behna Yojana rolled out by Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan last month promising ₹1,000 monthly aid for women in MP.

"Chouhan has been the chief minister since 2003. In between Congress came to power for just 15 months (December 2018 to March 2020). Why did he not think of women's welfare in 18-and-a-half years?" he questioned.

Congress emerged as the single largest party in 2018

The 2018 elections in Madhya Pradesh threw up a hung Assembly, with the Congress emerging as the largest party winning 114 seats in the 230-member House, while the BJP won 109 seats. However, the BJP got 41.02 per cent votes against the Congress' 40.89 per cent. The Congress formed a government under Kamal Nath but it fell in March 2020 when MLAs loyal to Jyotiraditya Scindia revolted, paving the way for the return of Shivraj Singh Chouhan as chief minister.

Bharatiya Janata Party president JP Nadda had last month said the saffron party would win more than 200 out of 230 Assembly seats in Madhya Pradesh in the upcoming elections.