Buzz over Kamal Nath’s son’s shift to BJP grows

Speculation continued on Sunday over senior Congressman Kamal Nath and his son Nakul Nath’s plans to leave the party, with both leaders not quelling rumours of a possible switch to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

Several loyalists of the father and son reached Delhi on Sunday and party functionaries aware of the developments said Nakul alone, and not Kamal Nath, could join the BJP on Monday along with MLAs from his camp.

A newly installed “Jai Shri Ram” flag hoisted atop Nath’s residence in the Capital greeted reporters, who were told by the Congress veteran that he had not spoken to anyone in the BJP yet.

“I said yesterday [on Saturday] that if there is something like that, I will inform you all. I did not talk to anyone,” Kamal Nath told the media.

Around half a dozen Madhya Pradesh lawmakers loyal to him reached Delhi as efforts were on by the Nath camp to get the support of 23 MLAs so that the anti-defection law does not come into play, said the party functionaries cited above.

If more than a third of state legislators switch sides, the law does not apply. The Congress has 66 seats in the 230-member state assembly.

Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, attending a lunch hosted by senior lawyer and party leader Abhishek Manu Singhvi, did not directly comment on the issue but, in a veiled jibe, said that he can’t stop anyone who wants to leave, according to leaders present at the event.

“Whoever needs to leave can leave, can’t stop them, they make up their minds when they meet people whom they wish to join,” a person who attended the lunch gathering said quoting Kharge and asking not to be named.

Senior Congress leader Digvijaya Singh said that he was in constant touch with Nath and was confident that he would not leave.

“I am constantly in touch with Kamal Nath. The Congress leadership is having discussions with him. A person like him, who started with the Congress, whom we all considered to be the third son of Indira Gandhi, has always supported the Congress and has been a pillar of the Congress party... he was the cabinet minister at the Centre, state Congress committee president and chief minister... he got all the posts. I don’t think he will leave the party,” Singh told reporters.

Delhi BJP leader Tajinder Bagga said that his party’s door was “not open” for Kamal Nath though there was no problem in Nakul joining the party.

Former state minister and Kamal Nath loyalist Deepak Saxena hinted that the politician was upset with the party’s top leadership.

“Kamal Nath has been neglected since (the 2023 assembly) elections. No one would have thought that Bhupesh Baghel would lose. We lost in Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan where we didn’t think we would lose. But why is only Kamal Nath being blamed for it?” Saxena said. Kamal Nath, the sitting MLA from Chhindwara, was removed as the state Congress chief in the wake of the party’s crushing defeat at the hands of the BJP in the assembly elections.

Another loyalist, former state minister Sajjan Singh Verma, wrote “Jai Shri Ram” on his X profile. “I will follow Kamal Nath,” Verma had said on Saturday.