Kamal Nath warns ministers to bond with workers

In view of the 2019 Lok Sabha election, Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Kamal Nath has cautioned his newly sworn in ministers not to neglect their close bonding with grassroots workers. He has also put the bureaucrats on notice saying his government will have zero tolerance to laxity.

“Don’t consider yourself above the party worker,” the chief minister warned the ministers soon after they took the oath of office on Tuesday. He reminded them of Congress president Rahul Gandhi’s warning that if a chief minister or a minister is found to have kept the doors shut on the party worker, the high command would not take more than 10 minutes to show him/her the door. To drive home the message effectively, the chief minister held his first informal meeting in the state Congress headquarters instead of the secretariat, an hour after the oath-taking ceremony.

“We have a task cut out for us to keep the momentum of the Congress unity going till the Lok Sabha election,” a senior minister told this DH correspondent after the meeting.

The Congress had won two out of 29 seats in the 2014 Lok Sabha election in Madhya Pradesh. However, it was ahead of rival BJP in 18 parliamentary seats in the just concluded assembly poll. The party is keen to increase its tally by showing positive results on the election promises in the run-up to LS polls.

Focus on farmers

The chief minister’s first cabinet meeting on Wednesday was also businesslike, wherein he tersely told the ministers and bureaucrats to develop good mutual understanding for delivering on the promises the Congress has made in its manifesto.

Predictably enough, farmers’ needs are on top of the new government’s agenda. The Congress’s victory in the assembly election is largely attributable to its success in rural areas.

Kamal Nath asked the officers concerned in the power and agriculture departments to ensure regular supply of power for irrigation and easy availability of seeds and fertilisers through cooperative agencies.