For the last 2 to 3 days, there has been high speculation in the political circles of Madhya Pradesh that former Chief Minister and senior Congress leader Kamal Nath and his son Nakul Nath, a member of parliament from Chhindwara, along with dozens of supporters, are going to join the Bhartiya Janata Party.
This speculation has been floating since Kamal Nath was removed from the post of Pradesh Congress committee chief after the severe defeat of the party in the 2023 assembly elections and the kind of statement he was making to the media. it got further triggered when Kamal Nath, on Saturday, cancelled all his pre-scheduled meetings in Chhindwara and fled to Delhi.
By the evening of Saturday, Nakul Nath and many Kamal Nath loyalist leaders had removed Congress from their official X handle. When the media asked Kamal Nath if he was going to join the BJP, he said, “If such things happen, he will first inform the media only.” This statement made it clear that he had not rejected the claim of joining the BJP.
Table of Contents
Reactions from congress leaders
The state unit of the BJP is seen to be reluctant to make any statement on a possible switch off Kamal Nath until there is a clear indication from the top brass. whereas the senior Congress leader, former Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh, and a close friend of Kamal Nath, Digvijay Singh, has rejected all such speculations and rumors and said, “I am in constant touch with him and he will never join the BJP; Kamal Nath is a loyalist to the Gandhi Nehru family and the party. Indira Ji called him her third son. Singh added.
Jitu Patwari, the Madhya Pradesh Congress President, also said that he had a conversation with Kamal Nath in which he said, “Jitu, these are all speculations. I am not going anywhere. I was a congressman. I am a congressman, and I will remain a congressman. It is a conspiracy against Kamal Nath, he added.
Amidst Kamal Nath’s possible switchover, there were rumors that 10 to 15 MLAs and several former MLAs and ministers would also join the BJP. But all such speculations were struck down when Sajjan Singh Verma, a former minister, member of Parliament, and very close aide of Kamal Nath, said that, as of now, there is no plan to leave the Congress Party. Such decisions have been taken collectively. He also said that Kamal Nath had a conversation with Rahul Gandhi, but it was on the Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra, which is set to enter Madhya Pradesh.’
After this statement, these speculations were finally stopped. According to the sources, it was clear that Kamal Nath, along with his son and supporters, were willing to join the Bhartiya Janata Party, but the deal could not reach a conclusion, which is why it has been delayed.
Why does he want to join the BJP?
It’s because he wanted to secure the political future of his son, Nakul Nath. After the massive victory of the BJP in the state assembly elections and the BJP’s ambitious target of winning Chhindwara (bastions of Kamal Nath and Congress from the last 44 years) to clean sweep 29 out of 29 seats in the Lok Sabha polls, Kamal Nath is anxious about his son’s possible future politics, who won last time with a very thin majority.
Kamal Nath is a very well-known businessman and has owned several successful businesses, including real estate, aviation plantations, and hospitality. It was possible for him that the enforcement directorate may come to his door at any time, so to avoid any possibility, he may think of joining the BJP.
