Kamal Nath in Delhi, son Nakul Nath drops Congress from social media bio
NEW DELHI: As speculation intensified in political circles that veteran Congress leader and former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Kamal Nath is mulling over the possibility of switching sides to join the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the Congress stalwart arrived here on Saturday and refused to either confirm or deny the big cross-over.
In his brief interaction with mediapersons, Kamal Nath asked them not to get excited. Asked if he is joining the BJP, Nath said, “If there would be any such thing, I would inform you first.”
When asked if he was not denying a possible switch, Nath said, “It is not about denying, you are saying this, you people are getting excited. I am not getting excited, this side or that side, but if there would be any such thing, I would inform you first.”
Sources close to the Congress stalwart who has been Lok Sabha MP for nine times, having won the first election in 1980, said that he had been in touch with BJP leaders ever since being blamed for the Congress defeat in the Assembly polls in Madhya Pradesh. He was removed as the MP Congress president and was also not made the leader of the opposition in the state Assembly.
Kamal Nath has been criss-crossing his stronghold Chhindwara, from where he had been an MP for nine terms. His son Nakul Nath won the seat in the 2019 polls, even as the BJP made a clean sweep in remaining 28 seats in the state.
However, Congress leaders sought to downplay the speculation of Nath crossing over to the BJP. Senior party leader Digvijaya Singh said in Jabalpur earlier in the day, “I spoke to Kamal Nath at 10.30 pm yesterday, he is in Chhindwara. A person who started his political journey and stood with the Nehru-Gandhi family when Indira Gandhi was sent to jail by the Janata Party, do you think such a person will ever leave Congress and the Gandhi family?” Singh said.
Congress state president of Madhya Pradesh Jitu Patwari said he could not think about something like this. He said that Kamal Nath has been working with the party for the last seven years as Madhya Pradesh Congress chief. Pointing to the Congress leader’s close ties with former prime minister Indira Gandhi who considered Kamal Nath as her third son, Patwari claimed the reports of Kamal Nath leaving the Congress are baseless.
Sources said Kamal Nath was reportedly miffed over the denial of Rajya Sabha berth and also former Congress president Rahul Gandhi being opposed to him since the party lost the assembly polls late last year. Kamal Nath is sitting MLA from his home turf of Chhindwara.
Meanwhile, his son Nakul Nath dropped Congress from his bio on social media, giving credence to rumours that he along with his father, are crossing over to the BJP. The bio of Nakul Kamal Nath on X now identifies him only as a Member of Parliament, Chhindwara (MP).
Kamal Nath’s name was also dragged in a CBI case as the agency had booked his nephew and former Moser Baer officials in connection with a bank fraud case in 2019 that allegedly ran up to Rs 354 crore.
If Kamal Nath leaves the Congress to cross over to the Lotus party, he would be joining the ranks of, among others, former chief ministers and veteran leaders like Ghulam Nabi Azad, Captain Amarinder Singh, S M Krishna, Ajit Jogi, Pema Khandu and most recently Ashok Chavan.
The Congress ship was also deserted by high profile leaders like Kapil Sibal, Ashwani Kumar, Sunil Jakhar and young leaders like Jyotiraditya Scindia, Hardik Patel, Jitin Prasada, R P N Singh, Anil Antony and Milind Deora. Some of these young leaders were part of Rahul Gandhi’s team and their act of leaving the Congress not only dealt a blow to the grand old party but also brought to the fore the failure of the party leadership in stemming the exodus. With the 2024 Lok Sabha elections just a couple of months away, the Congress may be staring at one of the biggest crises which the party has faced in recent times.
