Kamal Nath wanted Rajya Sabha ticket but Congress leadership refused: Sources

Amid buzz over former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Kamal Nath’s possible cross over to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), sources in the Congress have said.

That the senior leader is contemplating a switch, as the party’s leadership denied him a Rajya Sabha ticket. “Kamal Nath is likely to switch to the BJP and the Congress leadership has made no attempts to reach out to him. Things have come to a knot with Kamal Nath actively lobbying for a Rajya Sabha ticket,” sources within the Congress told India Today TV.

Kamal Nath and his son Nakul Nath are reportedly in touch with the BJP top brass for a job switch. The speculations reached fever pitch after Kamal Nath arrived in Delhi on Saturday. While speaking to reporters in the national capital, the veteran politician said that if there would be any such thing, he would inform the media first.

When a reporter 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”.

Meanwhile, sources in the Congress said that the party had “bent backward to please Kamal Nath”.

“Kamal Nath was chosen over Scindia as the Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister, but he couldn’t continue for five years. The Congress government in Madhya Pradesh fell because of his adamance. Even after that party gave him another chance and he was made the face of Assembly elections. But he refused to corporate with anyone who was sent from Delhi,” sources told India Today TV.

“Senior leader JP Agarwal was shunted out because he (Kamal Nath) didn’t want him as the in-charge and refused to corporate with him. Randeep Surjewala was given the assignment later, but Kamal Nath continued to have a one-way traffic as far as ticket distribution and campaigning in Assembly elections were concerned,” sources said.

Notably, Nath was ousted as the head of the party’s Madhya Pradesh unit in the aftermath of the Assembly polls, where the BJP secured a commanding victory with 163 seats out of the 230-member House. The Congress managed to win just 66 seats.

Sources also claimed that Kamal Nath met Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge and sought a Rajya Sabha nomination. “The former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister even hosted MLAs to endorse his nomination, but the leadership refused to blink,” sources added.

Kamal Nath is a nine-term Congress MP from Chhindwara. His son Nakul Nath won the seat in the 2019 polls, even as the BJP swept the remaining 28 seats in the state.