Amid signs of trouble in MP Sonia meets Kamal Nath, discusses RS nominees

Amidst signs of trouble in the party’s Madhya Pradesh unit, Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Monday met Chief Minister Kamal Nath to discuss the situation as well as nominees for the upcoming Rajya Sabha election.

Gandhi also met former Haryana chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda and AICC in-charge for Jammu and Kashmir Ambika Soni separately to discuss the party’s nominees for the Rajya Sabha elections slated for March 26.

After the meeting, Nath said any decision on the party’s nominees for Rajya Sabha polls would be taken unanimously.

“All issues were discussed with the Congress president and everything will be resolved unanimously,” he told reporters.

The Madhya Pradesh chief minister skirted the issue of whether senior Congress leader Jyotiraditya Scindia can be nominated for the Rajya Sabha seat from the state.

Related news: MP government in crisis? Scindia and 17 MLAs untraceable

In a curious political development amid reports of infighting in the Madhya Pradesh Congress and allegations of poaching, Scindia and at least 17 MLAs who are believed to be supporting him suddenly became “incommunicado” on Monday ahead of the upcoming Rajya Sabha elections.

There are reports of Scindia being miffed over the state of affairs in the party and has taken a tough stand in public against the government led by Kamal Nath.

The development came against the backdrop of the ruling party accusing the BJP of trying to poach its MLAs to topple the Kamal Nath-led government, which enjoys a wafer-thin majority in the House, and imminent expansion of the state Cabinet.