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New Congress Chief Ministers To Take Oath On Monday

Ashok Gehlot has taken oath as the Rajasthan chief minister. Kamal Nath will take oath as Madhya Pradesh chief minister at 1:30 pm and Bhupesh Baghel as Chhattisgarh CM at 5 pm.
Senior Congress leader Kamal Nath.
Hindustan Times via Getty Images
Senior Congress leader Kamal Nath.

Congress leaders Kamal Nath, and Bhupesh Baghel will be sworn in as the chief ministers of Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh respectively on Monday.

Ashok Gehlot was also sworn-in as the Chief Minister of Rajasthan on Monday.

Both Nath and Gehlot, part of the Congress’s senior rung of leaders, were chosen by party president Rahul Gandhi after almost two days of deliberation and discussions with Congress leaders.

While Nath will take oath at Bhopal’s Lal Parade Grounds at 1:30 pm, Baghel will take oath at 5 pm.

Baghel, whose name was announced on Sunday, is the Congress president in Chhattisgarh. He beat back rivals including senior leader TS Singh Deo for the post.

The Congress is celebrating after a high-octane election in five states where it managed to leave the BJP behind in three important states of the Hindi heartland—Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh.

Nath, who was heading the party’s unit in Madhya Pradesh, had been seen as one of the frontrunners for the post of chief minister. Jyotiraditya Scindia, much younger than Nath at 47, was head of the campaign committee in Madhya Pradesh.

Nath will be leading a Congress government in MP after 15 years. BJP had won elections in the state for three straight terms, with Shivraj Singh Chouhan as its face.

Nath had said on Saturday that he would contest Assembly polls from his home turf Chhindwara but was yet to zero in on any particular seat from the district.

As per rules, Nath, a Lok Sabha MP from Chhindwara, will have to get elected to the MP Assembly within six months of assuming any ministerial office.

In Rajasthan, Gehlot, who was chief minister of the state from 1998-2003 and 2008-2013, was one of the front runners and was picked over party colleague Sachin Pilot. Gehlot contested from the Sardarpura constituency in Jodhpur and won by a margin of 45,597 votes. Pilot, who contested from Tonk and won by a margin of 54,197 votes, will be deputy chief minister of Rajasthan.

While there was frenzied lobbying for the post of chief minister for these two crucial states, Gandhi chose to fall back on the party’s old guard rather than go with the young faces.

Baghel took over the party leadership in Chhattisgarh in 2014.

In Madhya Pradesh, the Congress won 114 seats, BJP 109 seats, BSP 2 seats and Samajwadi Party (SP) 1 seat. While the Congress fell short of two seats to reach the half-way mark, they found support from BSP and SP.

In Rajasthan, the Congress won 99 seats, BJP 73 seats and BSP 6 seats. In Chhattisgarh, the party registered a convincing victory, winning 68 of 90 seats.

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This article exists as part of the online archive for HuffPost India, which closed in 2020. Some features are no longer enabled. If you have questions or concerns about this article, please contact indiasupport@huffpost.com.