Taking responsibility for the poor performance of Congress in the Assembly bye-elections, losing 19 of the 28 seats in Madhya Pradesh, state Congress chief and leader of the Opposition in state Assembly Kamal Nath is likely to offer resigning from his posts.

The Congress high command had given Nath a free hand in these bye-elections to choose candidates and he was also the main campaigner for the party, being the former chief minister of Madhya Pradesh.

Sources in the party said on Wednesday that Nath had accepted the onus was on him to make a comeback for the Congress in these bypolls. However, the party managed to win just nine seats and is left with no chance to even think of regaining power in MP again through these bye-elections.

Nath called a meeting of the Congress Legislature Party that included losing party candidates, winning MLAs and other Congress leaders at his residence at Bhopal this evening to analyze the party’s drubbing in the elections.

Sources said Nath would offer to resign from his post of MP Congress president and also that of the leader of the Opposition in the Assembly taking accountability of the party’s defeat upon him.

Nath met chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan at the latter’s residence today to offer congratulations on the BJP’s win in the elections.

Having won 19 of the 28 seats, the BJP would comfortably continue ruling in Madhya Pradesh. The party had 107 MLAs in the Assembly and that number has now gone up to 126. The required magic figure for a majority in the 230-member House is 115 at present, as the effective strength of the Assembly is currently 229, with one seat vacant.

The BJP needed to win only eight seats to be in a majority and it succeeded in winning on 19. The Congress, which had been reduced to 87 MLAs, has managed to reach up to only 96 after winning nine seats in these bypolls ~ way behind the majority figure. There are seven other MLAs, including two of Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), one of Samajwadi Party (SP) and four independents.

In these bypolls, 25 of the 28 candidates fielded by the BJP were former Congress MLAs, including 12 non-MLA ministers.

All but three of the non-MLA ministers have won. The ministers who lost include Imarti Devi, Aidal Singh Kansana and Giriraj Dandotiya.

Chouhan calls on Governor:

Madhya Pradesh chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan on Wednesday called on Governor Anandiben Patel in Bhopal in the backdrop of the ruling BJP winning 19 Assembly seats, add PTI.

The chief minister called on the Governor at the Raj Bhavan to exchange Deepawali greetings, an official statement said. However, the meeting assumed significance in the wake of bypoll results.

Patel is the Governor of Uttar Pradesh and holds the additional charge of Madhya Pradesh. She later left for Lucknow.