Bhopal: The national president of the Congress party Mallikarjun Kharge has appointed Jitu Patwari as the new president of the Madhya Pradesh Congress Committee, effective immediately, replacing veteran party leader and outgoing PCC president Kamal Nath.

The official statement from the Congress also designates Umang Shingar as the Leader of the Opposition and Hemant Katare as the deputy leader of the Congress party in the Madhya Pradesh Vidhan Sabha.

In a press note on Saturday, Congress stated, "Congress President has appointed Jitu Patwari as the President of Madhya Pradesh Congress Committee, with immediate effect."

"The party appreciates the contributions of outgoing PCC President Shri Kamal Nath," it added.

Jitu Patwari, aged 49 and a former MLA from the Rau constituency assumed the position while previously chairing the Madhya Pradesh Congress campaign committee.

He secured re-election in 2018 from Rau and subsequently served as the Minister of Higher Education, Youth, and Sports Affairs in the government led by Kamal Nath.

Patwari's political trajectory includes being appointed as the working president when Kamal Nath took over as the Madhya Pradesh Congress Committee (MPCC) chief in 2018.

Later, in April 2020, he was assigned the role of chairperson of the state media cell of the Congress by Nath.

Despite his earlier prominence, Patwari faced defeat in the 2023 Madhya Pradesh Assembly polls, losing the Rau seat to Madhu Verma of the BJP by a margin of 35,522 votes.

The decision by the party to appoint Patwari comes shortly after Kamal Nath, the outgoing chief of the Madhya Pradesh Congress Committee, expressed his reluctance to conclude his political journey while in his constituency of Chhindawara.

"I am not going to retire. I will be with you until my last breath. Let's see how high your electricity bills go under the BJP government!" Kamal Nath had said.

During the polls conducted on November 17, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) maintained its hold on power in Madhya Pradesh by securing victory in 163 seats out of the 230-member Assembly.

In contrast, the Congress party managed to secure only 66 seats, a significant drop from the 114 seats it had won in the 2018 elections.