After the grand old party's disappointing results in te state's assembly elections, Madhya Pradesh's former Chief Minister-turned-Congress chief Kamal Nath has been asked to step down from the post, sources said. The final results according to the Election Commission showed that the BJP had bagged 163 of the state's 230 seats, more than double the Congress tally of 66.
Congress party in Madhya Pradesh, spearheaded by Kamal Nath, was prematurely convinced that there was huge anti-incumbency against the Shivraj Singh Chouhan government. As a mark of their confidence, posters came up congratulating Mr Nath on his victory in the morning of the results day. By noon, they had to be pulled down owing to Congress' disappointing defeat in the state as BJP established a comfortable lead.
Moreover, the other move of Mr Nath in which the veteran politician denied the promised five to seven seats to INDIA bloc partner Samajwadi Party has also added fuel to the wrath of the alliance partners.
Sharing of seats at the state level was expected to be the blueprint for the bloc's one-on-one strategy for next year's general elections -- dubbed a do-or-die battle with the BJP.
The party did not hold massive protests against the BJP to register its presence. The number of public meetings and rallies they held was almost half that of the BJP. This affected communication with the voters and made the party unable to carry its message across, leaders confided in private.
