Kamal Nath takes oath as MP CM, signs farm loan waiver files

 Congress leader Kamal Nath was Monday sworn in as Madhya Pradesh chief minister at a ceremony attended by a galaxy of leaders.

Governor Anandiben Patel administered the oath of office to 72-year-old Nath, who led the Congress to victory in the recently-concluded state Assembly polls.No other minister took oath along with him.The Congress on Thursday had named Nath, the nine-time Lok Sabha member from Chhindwara, to head the state Congress Legislature Party, after hours of hectic parleys held by party chief Rahul Gandhi with senior party leaders.

Shortly after that, Kamal Nath as promised during the elections cleared files paving way for farm loan waiver in the state.  Farm loans upto Rs 2 lakh from nationalised and/or co-operative banks have been waived off. The cut-off used is of March 31, 2018. 

His appointment as come for sharp criticism from NDA leaders for his alleged role in the 1984 anti- Sikh riots. 

National Conference chief Farooq Abdullah, Loktantrik Janata Dal leader Sharad Yadav, NCP chief Sharad Pawar, his party leader Praful Patel, former prime minister H D Deve Gowda, Karnataka Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy, his Andhra Pradesh counterpart Chandrababu Naidu, Trinamool Congress' Dinesh Trivedi, DMK leader M K Stalin and RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav were among those present at the event.
BSP supremo Mayawati and SP chief Akhilesh Yadav, who have extended support to the Congress to form the government in the state, were not present.

Three former BJP chief ministers - Shivraj Singh Chouhan, Kailash Joshi and Babulal Gaur - were also present on the stage.

The Congress' tally in the outgoing House was only 58 while the BJP had 165 lawmakers.This time, the Congress won 114 seats in the 230- member House. It has the support of total 121 MLAs, including SP (1), BSP (2) as also of four Independents. The BJP has 109 members in the new Assembly.

With PTI inputs