Madhya Pradesh: CM Kamal Nath takes oath as MLA

Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Kamal Nath Monday took oath as MLA after getting elected from Chhindwara Assembly seat in a bypoll held along with the April-May Lok Sabha polls.

Nath, who took over as chief minister in December last year following the Congress' win in the Assembly elections, was at the time a Lok Sabha MP from Chhindwara.

Vidhan Sabha Speaker NP Prajapati administered the oath to Nath in the Assembly Hall.

As per rules, Nath had to get elected to the MP Assembly within six months of being appointed chief minister.

He had defeated the BJP's Vivek Sahul by a margin of 25,800 votes in the Assembly bypoll, necessitated after Congress MLA Deepak Saxena quit the MP House to make way for the chief minister.

After taking oath as MLA, he said his government's first priority would be agriculture and the aim would be to make farmers self-sufficient and debt-free.

Employment for youth would be another focus area, he said. He accused the earlier BJP government for the water crisis in the state.