'Fake news': Cong on reports of Kamal Nath quitting as MP unit chief

The Congress in Madhya Pradesh on Thursday, 7 December termed the reports of its state unit president Kamal Nath stepping down from his position following the party's defeat in the recently concluded Assembly polls as "fake news".

Kamal Nath's media advisor Piyush Babele said that such reports making rounds on social media were fake.

On Thursday evening, messages surfaced on social media that Kamal Nath had resigned as Madhya Pradesh unit Congress president.

Some official social media handles had also claimed that Kamal Nath had resigned.

The reports, in fact, emerged amid a buzz in the political circles that the All India Congress Committee (AICC) might pick a new face for the post following the party's disappointing show.

The BJP won 163 seats of 230 while the Congress bagged 66.

Meanwhile, BJP spokesperson in Madhya Pradesh, Narendra Saluja claimed that "Kamal Nath will meet Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge tomorrow (Friday) and to submit his resignation (from the state president's post)".

However, Kamal Nath's media advisor Babele and former minister P.C. Sharma also dismissed the claims and speculation, calling the reports fake.

After Congress' poll defeat, Kamal Nath had asked party members not to get disheartened by the results. He urged them to regroup, focus, and gear up for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections which are just a few months away.

In an effort to uplift the spirits of party workers, Kamal Nath recalled the Congress' significant setback in the post-Emergency 1977 Lok Sabha polls.

Meanwhile, senior Congress leader Lakshman Singh, brother of former Chief Minister Digvijaya Singh, took to X on Wednesday, saying the EVMs are being blamed to "hide" the infighting in the party. He said: "The machines cannot talk back."

His comments came barely hours after Kamal Nath met Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and party leader Rahul Gandhi at Kharge's official residence in Delhi.