Veteran Congress leader Kamal Nath, who was Thursday appointed party chief in poll-bound Madhya Pradesh party chief, said he was not "hungry" for the Chief Minister's post and his selection came as the party believed he could "take everyone along".
In an interview to NDTV, Kamal Nath said he was named the party chief, succeeding Arun Yadav, only after discussion with other senior party leaders from the state. "The party felt I can take everyone along."
Asked if his appointment meant he was the Chief Ministerial candidate, Kamal Nath replied: "Not necessarily so."
"I am not hungry for the Chief Minister's post or for any other post. I am hungry to bring the state out of the morass it is in under the BJP government."
Still asked if he should be looked at as the future Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh, he said: "You are looking at the future of Madhya Pradesh with the Congress party."
Kamal Nath said his name was selected after party President Rahul Gandhi held "wide discussions with the leaders of Madhya Pradesh" and after a meeting with him, former Chief Minister Digvijaya Singh and party MP Jyotiraditya Scindia. He said he was "sounded out" by Gandhi a month back.
"I even made the statement that I am in full support of Jyotiraditya Scindia... Digvijaya Singh understands the state better than anyone else. I am sure Rahul Gandhi will find a role for him. Everybody has a role to play, we don't just need one face, but several," he said.
Kamal Nath was all praise for Digvijaya Singh for his "padayatra", saying: "What he has done is humanly not possible. It requires a lot of sacrifice."
Asked his view on his not being a pan-Madhya Pradesh leader like current Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, he said that this is something which the people of the state will decide.
"In the end, the people will decide what I am. The people will decide what Shivraj Singh is...
"Everybody is in distress. The farmers, the youth, traders, labourers... women are insecure... People are sometimes willing to be disappointed but they are not willing to be thugged... And people of Madhya Pradesh will ask this question whether they were thugged or not.
"All that he (Chouhan) has promised, that he has delivered and not delivered is in the forefront. Why should Madhya Pradesh have the highest suicide rate of farmers, why should Madhya Pradesh have the highest amount of women atrocities in the country, why should the youth of Madhya Pradesh have the highest unemployment in the country. These are the questions he will have to answer," Kamal Nath said.
--IANS
vn/sid/him/vd
(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)