Bhopal: Amid political circles from Bhopal to New Delhi abuzz with speculation about senior Congress leader Kamal Nath along with his son and Chhindwara MP Nakul Nath joining the BJP, both the leaders all of a suddenly left for the national capital lending credence to the rumours.
Furthermore, Nakul Nath, the lone Congress Lok Sabha MP from Madhya Pradesh, who was supposed to continue his meeting with party workers in his family bastion Chhindwara from February 14 to 18, stopped the meeting and left for Delhi along with his father. Meanwhile, he also removed ‘INC’ from his social media bio.
All these sequences gave rise to the speculation that Kamal Nath, who is considered close to the Nehru-Gandhi family, likely to end his decades long association with the grand old party ahead of the Lok Sabha elections.
On February 10, IANS had reported that a rift between Kamal Nath and former AICC president Rahul Gandhi erupted following the party’s loss in the assembly election in November last year.
Sources had then also claimed that a deal between Kamal Nath and the BJP that was “derailed” due to some reasons, was “brought back” on track again with several top leaders from the BJP having supported the same.
However, seasoned politician with over 40 years of experience, Kamal Nath left the political watchers guessing. Though all is not going well between Rahul and Kamal Nath, the latter was regularly visiting to meet Sonia Gandhi. Kamal Nath’s frequent visits to meet Sonia were also viewed as the leader racing for the Rajya Sabha seat from Madhya Pradesh.
Recently when Kamal Nath invited Congress MLAs for a dinner at his residence in Bhopal, it was judged as his power show to obtain the Rajya Sabha seat. However, two days later, the party nominated MP Congress treasurer Ashok Singh for the Upper House of the Parliament. That probably disappointed Kamal Nath, who wants to retain his bastion Chhindwara.
However, sources in the Madhya Pradesh Congress still believe that Nakul Nath may join the BJP but not Kamal Nath, citing the latter’s decades long association of Kamal Nath with the Congress and his bonding with the Nehru-Gandhi family.
Kamal Nath and veteran Congress leader Digvijaya Singh, who refrained from making any comment on all these speculations, said on Saturday that he cannot believe the person who gave years to the Congress, will join the BJP.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by Siasat staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
