Bhopal, Dec 17 : 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.
On his arrival at the venue, Gandhi was greeted with loud cheers by the crowd. He was flanked by Nath and state Congress’ campaign committee chairman Jyotiraditya Scindia.
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.
Former prime minister Manmohan Singh, Congress leader in the Lok Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge, Rajasthan’s new Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot, his deputy Sachin Pilot, former Haryana chief minister Bhupendra Singh Hudda and Puducherry Chief Minister V Narayanasamy were also present.
Former MP chief minister and senior Congress leader Digvijay Singh, Punjab minister Navjot Singh Sidhu and senior Congress leaders Anand Sharma, Raj Babbar and Rajiv Shukla were among those who attended the ceremony.
Three former BJP chief ministers – Shivraj Singh Chouhan, Kailash Joshi and Babulal Gaur – were also present on the stage.
Before the ceremony, an all-religion prayer meet was also organised.
Born at Kanpur in Uttar Pradesh to businessman father Mahendra Nath and mother Leela, Nath is an alumnus of the prestigious Doon School (at Dehradun in Uttarakhand).
He did his graduation from St Xavier’s College, Kolkata, before taking a plunge into politics.
