Bhopal: In a blow to the camp of septuagenarian Congress leader Kamal Nath, one of the aspirants for chief ministerial nominee of the party in the state,
All-India Congress Committee general secretary in-charge of Madhya Pradesh Deepak Babaria on Friday said, “Leaders who are more than 60 years would be denied the party ticket in the upcoming polls in MP.”
“The party wants to promote new faces and youth. Hence, the senior leaders should pave way for them by opting out of elections voluntarily,” Mr Babaria told reporters at Jabalpur in MP.
He was on a two-day tour to Jabalpur district to attend various party programmes.
Mr Babaria also indicated that party leaders who have lost two to three Assembly elections would be denied a ticket this time around. His statement has, however, not gone down well with the camps of MP chief minister aspirants, Kamal Nath and former state chief minister Digvijay Singh. The latter is currently on a six-month “spiritual” tour to circumambulate the Narmada.
“It is Mr Babaria’s personal view. We are not taking it seriously as long as Congress president Rahul Gandhi does not endorse it,” a senior leader of MP Pradesh Congress Committee, believed to be close to Mr Nath, told this newspaper unwilling to be quoted.
“Mr Babaria is stoking controversy in the party by sending a message that senior leaders are going to be phased out,” he added.
His statement has, however, cheered up the camp of Congress MP and Lok Sabha chief whip Jyotiraditya Scindia, a front-runner in the party’s CM aspirants race.
“Mr Babaria is a representative of the party high command in MP. He does not make a statement unless it is endorsed by the party high command,” a senior leader of the Scindia camp said.
“His statement is the high command line,” he added.
“Mr Babaria’s statement meant that the other two CM nominees, Mr Nath (72) and Mr Singh (70) were practically out of race for the post, paving way for Mr Scindia to lead the party in the year-end Assembly elections.
