Nath, who has held several portfolios in the Union cabinet, will be the 18th chief minister of Madhya Pradesh after the state was formed on November 1, 1956. The nine-time Lok Sabha member from Chhindwara was Thursday night elected as the leader of Congress Legislature Party (CLP).
Nath met the governor along with senior party leaders, including Digvijay Singh, Vivek Tankha, Ajay Singh, Arun Yadav and Suresh Pachouri. They apprised her about his election as the CLP leader. Appointed as the Madhya Pradesh Congress Committee president on April 26, Nath was at the forefront in steering the party to a win in the November 28 Assembly polls.
The results were declared on December 11. The Congress, which won 114 seats, has secured the support of 121 MLAs, including SP (1) and BSP (2) legislators and four independents, to cross the majority mark of 116 seats in the 230-member assembly. The BJP, which ruled the state for 15 years, got 109 seats in the elections. The saffron party's Shivraj Singh Chouhan was the state's longest-serving chief minister since taking charge in 2005.