BHOPAL : The State Congress is in for an overhaul. The leader of opposition in the Vidhan Sabha Satyadev Katare and PCC President Arun Yadav both may be asked to step down.
Katare is unwell for quite long time which is affecting his participation in the debates in the Assembly as well as in agitations and protests while the party’s national leadership is not happy with the performance of Yadav
Yadav and Katare had replaced Kantilal Bhuria and Ajay Singh respectively as PCC chief and Leader of Opposition in the Vidhan Sabha after the party’s drubbing in the Vidhan Sabha polls (November-December 2014).
However, they could not rejuvenate the party, which faced a string of reverses in the Lok Sabha elections (April-May 2015) followed by Municipal and Panchayat elections. Yadav himself lost from the Khargone Lok Sabha constituency.
Katare was appointed at the behest of Congress MP Jyotiraditya Scindia and Scindia has been asked to suggest the name of the new leader of opposition. According to sources, the names of Mukesh Nayak, Ramniwas Rawat and Ajay Singh are under consideration.
Several complaints against Katare have also been made to the Congress high command. The MLAs, who are followers of former Chief Minister Digvijay Singh, have also launched a campaign against Katare.
As far as Nayak is concerned, he does not enjoy the support of any big central leader but he has performed well as party spokesman. Nayak’s name is also under consideration to balance caste equations by replacing a Brahmin with a leader of the same community.
The party wants to make the changes as bye-elections are shortly due in Ratlam-Jhabua LS constituency and Dewas and Maihar Vidhan Sabha constituencies.
