In January, Congress party spokesperson Alok Sharma, while interacting with a TV channel, said he wondered whether Kamal Nath would join the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the Madhya Pradesh assembly elections. Sharma's 'derogatory remarks' against the former Madhya Pradesh chief minister earned him a mock recall from the party.
A month and a half later, Kamal Nath and his son Nakul Kamal Nath arrived in Delhi on Saturday amid reports of their switch to the BJP. Kamal Nath has not denied the rumours. The nine-time parliamentarian has not met any top BJP leader. However, Madhya Pradesh BJP president VD Sharma said he was welcome in the party.
Back to back beating
The BJP won the Madhya Pradesh assembly elections in November 2023, winning 163 of the 230 seats, successfully defeating the anti-incumbency party. State Congress leaders blamed party state president Kamal Nath for the loss, citing his overconfidence and lax campaign, among other things. He was replaced by Jitu Patwari as chairman of the Madhya Pradesh Congress Committee.
Kamal Nath was the chief minister of Madhya Pradesh in 2020 when his colleague Jyotiraditya Scindia led a revolt by lawmakers and toppled his government. Shivraj Singh Chouhan became the Prime Minister and Scindia became Civil Aviation Minister in the Narendra Modi cabinet.
“He (Kamal Nath) was elected over Jyotiraditya Scindia as MP CM (2018). But his government could not last more than 15 months. Later, the party gave him another chance by making him the face of the 2023 state elections. But we know what happened,” said a Congress leader who did not want to be named.
The 77-year-old Congress veteran is reportedly unhappy as he is not being considered for Rajya Sabha by the party he has been a part of for over five decades of his political career. The Congress chose Gwalior-Chambal politician Ashok Singh for the Rajya Sabha elections. However, some reports suggested that it was Kamal Nath who pushed Ashok Singh's name against Meenakshi Natarajan, who was reportedly Congress leader Rahul Gandhi's choice for the Upper House.
Many say that Kamal Nath's reason for joining the BJP is to secure the political future of his son Nakul. Nakul is an MP from Chhindwara and is expected to be fielded by the BJP from this seat in 2024.
Indira Gandhi's 'third son'
Born on November 18, 1946 in Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh, Kamal Nath was once the Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh and also held various ministerial positions in the Union Council of Ministers.
After graduating in commerce from St Xavier's College in Kolkata, Kamal Nath joined the Indian Youth Congress in 1968. He was elected to Lok Sabha nine times from Chhindwara constituency of Madhya Pradesh.
Kamal Nath is perhaps the longest veteran of the party, having worked with three generations of the Nehru-Gandhi family. The ties go back to his school days with Sanjay Gandhi, son of former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, at the Doon School in Dehradun. It is said that he was rewarded for his friendship with Sanjay with the Chhindwara seat in Madhya Pradesh in the 1980 Lok Sabha polls. Indira Gandhi once called Kamal Nath her 'third son'. Old-timers remember an election slogan “Indira ke do hateh, Sanjay Gandhi aur Kamal Nath (Indira's two hands, Sanjay Gandhi and Kamal Nath), popular during the Chhindwara election campaigns in the 1980s.
Kamal Nath was a leader in Delhi known for his ties to the business community until he was appointed Madhya Pradesh Congress chief in 2018. In the 2018 Assembly elections, in which Congress emerged as the single largest party, Rahul Gandhi anointed him as the CM, a major reason that upset Jyotiraditya Scindia.
Kamal Nath's political career has also seen controversies. His name often comes up because of his alleged involvement in the 1984 anti-Sikh riots after the assassination of Indira Gandhi. Kamal Nath has denied the allegations.
“After the defeat in Parliament, he wanted to be sent to Rajya Sabha. He was never a regional satrap. Had he been a Nehru-Gandhi loyalist, he would never have left them at a time when the party is bracing for one of the toughest election battles ever,” said another Congress leader.
If Kamal Nath switches to the BJP, he will join the nine other former chief ministers who left the Congress party after 2014, closely followed by Maharashtra's Ashok Chavan who joined the BJP on February 13, dealing another blow to the already troubled Congress. party, ahead of the 2024 general election.
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Published: Feb 18, 2024 11:02 AM IST