Jyotiraditya Scindia should be Congress' CM candidate in MP: Kamal Nath

Veteran Congress leader Kamal Nath on Wednesday said he is in favour of projecting Jyotiraditya Scindia, the party's chief whip in the Lok Sabha, as the chief ministerial face for the Assembly elections in Madhya Pradesh next year.

Nath's statement is significant as many state Congress leaders have been demanding projection of a chief ministerial face.

Asked persistently by reporters at Guna Airstrip — in Scindia's presence — who should be Congress's chief ministerial face, Nath said, "As I had said earlier, you must have read it in newspapers as well, Scindia should be made (party's candidate for the post).

"Apart from political relations, there have been family relations between us (he and Scindia). I do not have any problem with whatever Rahul Gandhi decides....I do not have any ambition as far as the post is concerned. We are already working, visiting districts and will continue to do so," he said.

Nath reached Guna today morning on his way to Mungawali, where a condolence meeting was organised to pay tribute to late party leader and former minister Mahendra Singh Kalukheda, who passed away recently.

The Congress is out of power in the state since losing to the BJP in 2003.

In an interview to PTI in April, Scindia had stressed the importance of projecting a face ahead of Assembly polls.

"I believe that projecting a face is important in the current political situation. But it does not mean only a face, we have to strengthen the organisation also," he had said.

Meanwhile, asked about BJP president Amit Shah reportedly asking his party workers to snatch both Guna (represented by Scindia) and Chhindwara (represented by Nath) from Congress in the next Lok Sabha elections, Nath said, "Voters may be poor but are intelligent. They won't fall into BJP's trap.