Bhopal: At a meeting in Bhopal on Monday, former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Kamal Nath’s simmering discontent with the Congress party bubbled over as the 78-year-old veteran leader questioned why he has been sidelined and decisions taken without consulting him.
Kamal Nath, once regarded as the undisputed leader of the state Congress, has been increasingly marginalised after the party’s crushing defeat in the 2023 Madhya Pradesh Assembly elections. Despite leading as the party’s chief ministerial candidate, Nath lost to the incumbent BJP government.
The former Union Minister’s woes further aggravated in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections as his son, NakulNath, lost the Chhindwara seat, traditionally a Congress stronghold. Kamal Nath’s influence in the party was further eroded following this defeat.
Sources close to the matter attribute Kamal Nath’s sidelining to three main factors: his advanced age, an unsuccessful tenure as Chief Minister in the 2018-2020 period, and the rumours that he may defect to the BJP on the eve of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
Kamal Nath alleges that the current state Congress leadership, led by Jitu Patwari, intentionally left him out of key meetings and decisions. There has been talk that this is fuelling talk of a fissure in the party’s state unit.
The Congress, which seems to be gauging its younger leaders in the run-up to the 2028 state elections, appears to have bypassed veterans like Kamal Nath.
Apart from this, the party’s choice to send Ashok Singh, a near and dear one to Digvijaya Singh, to the Rajya Sabha instead of Kamal Nath in April 2024 showed his declining consequence.
Kamal Nath’s outburst at the recent meeting has caused ripples within the party and the corridors of power in Delhi. Questions loom large about the future role of one of the most experienced leaders of Madhya Pradesh politics at a time when the Congress is grappling with internal discord.