Daijiworld Media Network - Bhopal
Bhopal, Feb 21: Hemant Katare resigned from the post of Deputy Leader of Opposition in the Madhya Pradesh Vidhan Sabha on Friday, triggering political speculation in the state. The Congress clarified that his resignation was only from the post and not from the party.
According to informed sources, the 40-year-old legislator abruptly left the Assembly around 4 pm and sent his resignation to the party’s national and state leadership, including national president Mallikarjun Kharge, state chief Jitu Patwari and Leader of Opposition Umang Singhar.
While Katare remained unreachable, state Congress leaders said he cited paucity of time for his constituency Ater in Bhind district and increasing family responsibilities as the reason for stepping down. A senior party functionary admitted that his unresponsiveness to repeated calls had caused concern among top leaders in Bhopal.
Local media reports indicated that Katare resigned on the day of his wedding anniversary, adding to the surprise surrounding the move.
The timing of the resignation has drawn attention as it comes ahead of the scheduled visit of Mallikarjun Kharge and Rahul Gandhi to Bhopal on February 24 to protest against the India-US trade deal.
Though party leaders maintained that the decision was purely personal, political circles were abuzz with speculation about possible differences between Katare and Umang Singhar. However, Singhar dismissed any suggestion of a rift.
“He participated in the debate in the Vidhan Sabha earlier today and had lunch with all of us. Like other MLAs, I too am stunned. It’s a matter of our family and we will resolve it internally,” Singhar said, ruling out any possibility of Katare switching to the BJP.
Singhar also underscored the Katare family’s long association with the Congress. Hemant Katare is the son of former Leader of Opposition and MP minister Satyadev Katare, who won the Ater seat four times between 1985 and 2013.
After his father’s demise in 2016, Hemant Katare won the 2017 by-election defeating BJP leader Arvind Singh Bhadoria. Though he lost the 2018 Assembly polls, he reclaimed the Ater seat in 2023.
Despite being traditionally close to the Scindia family, Katare did not follow Jyotiraditya Scindia and his loyalists into the BJP in 2020, choosing instead to remain with the Congress. He was later appointed Deputy LoP after the party’s 2023 Assembly poll setback.
Katare has been vocal against the ruling BJP, frequently targeting senior leaders over alleged corruption. On Friday, he strongly confronted BJP leaders during a debate on the Indore contaminated water deaths issue, though he reportedly did not receive full backing from fellow Congress MLAs.
The sudden development has fuelled speculation in political circles, even as Congress leaders insist that the resignation stems from personal considerations rather than internal discord.