Buzz In Congress: Will Kamal Nath Emerge As The Dark Horse For RS Nomination From MP ?

Bhopal: Congress circles in Madhya Pradesh are abuzz with the talks that veteran leader and former chief minister Kamal Nath may emerge as the dark horse for Rajya Sabha nomination by the party in the June 18 biennial polls in Madhya Pradesh.

Sources said that Mr. Nath who had earlier insisted on staying put in the state politics before the Congress high command is now seriously contemplating to shift to the Centre by seeking nomination to the Rajya Sabha from Madhya Pradesh in the ensuing biennial elections.

The veteran Congress leader who began his political career in Central politics around six decades ago was sent to Madhya Pradesh by the Congress high command to lead the party in the 2018 Assembly polls.

Although he had steered the party to victory in the 2018 Assembly polls, leading Congress to stage a comeback to power in Madhya Pradesh after a gap of 15 years, and subsequently became the chief minister, his government, which enjoyed a wafer-thin majority, could barely last 15 months.

A revolt staged against him by Union minister Jyotiraditya Scindia, then in Congress, saw 22 party MLAs exiting the party, leading to fall of the Kamal Nath government in March 2020.

The party however had faced debacle in the 2023 Assembly elections in Madhya Pradesh under his leadership, leading the Congress leadership to replace him with Jitu Patwari in the post immediately after the last polls.

“Mr. Nath is now keen to return to Central politics by seeking nomination to Rajya Sabha from the party”, a senior Congress functionary in the know of the development told this newspaper on Saturday, unwilling to be quoted.

Sources said that his joining the fray in the June 18 biennial polls from Madhya Pradesh may also help the party foil any attempt by the BJP to engineer cross voting in the polls to win all the three seats, at stake, in the elections.

Mr. Nath is a sitting MLA.

Three RS seats from Madhya Pradesh, falling vacant following the scheduled end of tenure of three sitting RS members- Digvijay Singh (Congress), Union minister George Kurien and Sumer Singh Solanki (both from BJP)- in June, are going to biennial polls in the state on June 18.

While BJP, having 164 MLAs, is in a position to comfortably send two members to the RS, Congress with a strength of 63 legislators is in a position to send one nominee to the Upper House.

However, as per the electoral college calculation, BJP will need eight additional votes to win the third seat, if the party desires to field a third candidate in the polls.

Veteran Congress leader Mr. Nath who commands respect in the Congress Legislature Party (CLP) in Madhya Pradesh may foil any chances of cross voting in the party, if he is chosen as party nominee, another Congress leader said.

AICC general secretary in-charge of Telangana Meenakshi Natarajan is said to be the front runner in the race for the RS ticket from Congress in Madhya Pradesh because of her proximity to Leader of Opposition (LoP) in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi, sources said.

Her prospective candidature has also the backing of Telangana chief minister Revanth Reddy, sources said.

Other Congress leaders in the race for the RS ticket from Madhya Pradesh included PCC president Jitu Patwari, former Union minister Arun Yadav and former MLA Kamaleshwar Patel.