Bhopal: Two senior Congress leaders sparred over the choice of Madhya Pradesh unit president Kamal Nath as the party's chief ministerial face for the state Assembly polls likely to be held at the end of the year. The war of words between Leader of Opposition in the Assembly Govind Singh and Nath loyalist MLA Sajjan Singh Verma took place after a meeting on MP poll preparations was held in Delhi on May 29, which was attended by party chief Mallikarjun Kharge and Rahul Gandhi.


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After attending the meeting, Singh had said, "The Congress is a democratic party. It is not the Congress tradition to announce the CM's face in advance. The public will elect the MLAs, who will further choose the CM."


Hitting back, Verma said, "Govind Singh ji sometimes forgets whether MLAs have elected him as the leader of the opposition. No, he was not elected by MLAs. He was senior so we also agreed on his appointment as leader of the opposition."


Verma said the people of MP and party leaders want Nath as the state's CM, adding that Singh should behave the way in which he expects others to do with him.


"All 22 present (in Rahul Gandhi's meeting) had accepted Kamal Nath as their leader. This is on record. All leaders accepted that the 2023 polls will be fought under Kamal Nath's leadership," Verma asserted.


On Sunday, Singh issued a video statement claiming his comment had been wrongly interpreted by the media.


"It is true all the senior leaders have decided to contest the Madhya Pradesh Assembly polls under the leadership of Kamal Nath. I have said several times he is our party's leader," he said.


Singh, however, maintained the chief minister is selected after the elections and in the legislature party.


Meanwhile, Congress Rajya Sabha member Digvijaya Singh also said party leaders want the polls to be fought under Nath's leadership.