Journalism of Courage
A war of words in public cost two senior Congress leaders the post of Congress Legislature Party (CLP) leader in the Madhya Pradesh Assembly with the party Wednesday choosing another leader, who was never in contention, to be the leader of the Opposition in the Assembly. MLA Satyadev Katare was named for the post two days after Churhat MLA Ajay Singh and Mungaoli MLA Mahendra Singh Kalukheda ran each other down by going public with their differences.
Singh, identified as close to AICC general secretary Digvijaya Singh, and Kalukheda who is backed by Union Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia, were main contenders of the Leader of Opposition post when the party met in Bhopal Sunday. Central observers Oscar Fernandes and C P Joshi, expected to announce the CLP leader’s name after the meeting, could not, and returned to Delhi to apprise the high command of the developments. The party high command, unhappy with the disastrous showing in the elections, named Katare who on Sunday was not in contention for the post.
Former Minister Bala Bachchan was named deputy leader of opposition while former minister, Rajendra Singh, was appointed deputy speaker.
