Amid BJP switch speculation, Kamal Nath tells media 'will let you know'
son Nakul drops Cong from X bio
New Delhi/Bhopal, Feb 17: The buzz over senior Congress leader Kamal Nath's possible switch to the BJP grew louder on Saturday with the former Madhya Pradesh chief minister saying if there would be any such thing, he would inform the media first, and his son Nakul Nath dropping Congress from his bio on social media.
Congress leaders from Madhya Pradesh, however, stressed on the decades-old ties between Kamal Nath and the party to dismiss the speculation that he may cross over to the BJP. Madhya Pradesh Congress chief Jitu Patwari recalled how former prime minister Indira Gandhi had described Nath as her "third son".
Nath arrived in the national capital Saturday afternoon and in his brief interaction with reporters here, he asked them not to get excited.
Asked if he is joining the BJP, Nath said, "If there would be any such thing, I would inform you 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."
Nath had been on a tour of his bastion Chhindwara, from where he had been an MP for nine terms. His son Nakul Nath won the seat in the 2019 polls, even as the BJP swept the remaining 28 seats in the state.
Patwari dismissed the speculation that the party veteran may jump the ship to join the BJP.
Nath's colleague in the party and former Madhya Pradesh chief minister Digvijaya Singh also rubbished the rumours and dubbed them a "media creation".
Patwari told reporters, "Can you dream of the third son of Indiraji (Gandhi) joining the BJP?"
He said Nath stood behind the Congress like a rock during the bad patch when the government led by him was toppled by Jyotiraditya Scindia after joining the BJP in March 2020.
Digvijaya Singh suggested that Nath who started his political innings with the Nehru-Gandhi family could never leave the party.
"Don't get into the breaking business. I spoke with Kamal Nathji last night around 10.30 or 11. He is in Chhindwara. The person who started his political innings with the Gandhi and Nehru family....He stood behind the party when the entire Janata Party and the then government was sending (former PM) Indiraji to jail," he told reporters in Jabalpur.
"Can you believe that such a man will leave Congress, Soniaji and Indiraji family? You all should not even think of it," he added.
Meanwhile, adding to the buzz about Kamal Nath's possible switch to the BJP, his MP son Nakul Nath dropped Congress from his bio on social media.
Nakul Nath's move has added fuel to rumours swirling for the last few days that he, along with his father, are defecting to the BJP.
The bio of Nakul Kamal Nath on X now identifies him only as a Member of Parliament, Chhindwara (MP).
Though speculation about Kamal Nath's shift has been going on for the last few days, they got a fresh boost on Friday when state BJP president VD Sharma said Nath and his son are welcome in the BJP if they are unhappy with Congress' decision to boycott the Ram mandir consecration event held in Ayodhya.
"Kamal Nath and his son are welcome in BJP if they are unhappy with their party's decision to boycott Ram Temple inauguration last month and if they want to join the saffron party to serve the country and society under the leadership of PM Narendra Modi," Sharma had told reporters.
In the 2019 general elections, the BJP won 28 of the 29 Lok Sabha seats, except Chhindwara.
An astute politician who had worked with three generations of the Gandhi family. In 1979, then prime minister Indira Gandhi had described him as her third son.
Nath is said to be disgruntled over not getting a Rajya Sabha berth and also Rahul Gandhi is understood to be upset with him since the party lost the assembly polls late last year.
Nath was replaced as the party's Madhya Pradesh unit chief following its rout in the assembly polls, in which the BJP retained power winning 163 seats in the 230-member House. The Congress managed to win just 66 seats.
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Two injuries, one DNF, a DQ as India end messy World Relays campaign
Gaborone (Botswana) (PTI): Amoj Jacob and Ragul Kumar got injured during the men's 4x400m and 4x100 races respectively as India ended their World Athletics Relays campaign in disappointment on the second day of competitions here on Sunday.
The Indian camp had high hopes of making the 2027 World Championships in the men's 4x400m relay but the team did not finish (DNF) the race as Jacob suffered cramps and pulled out of the race after taking the baton from the first leg runner Dharamveer Choudhary. Rajesh Ramesh and Vishal TK were to run in the third and fourth legs.
Those teams which could not qualify for the 2027 Beijing World Championships by reaching the final round of each of the six relay events on Saturday were given another chance in the second qualification round on Sunday.
The top two teams in each of the two heats (in all six relay events) booked the Beijing ticket on Sunday.
India will now have to try and qualify for the World Championships through the Top Lists of the World Athletics, which is a long and tedious process.
In the men's 4x100m race, third leg runner Ragul Kumar fell down the track after failing to hand over the baton inside the exchange zone to fourth leg runner Gurindervir Singh, which clearly showed the lack of coordination among the runners.
Harsh Santosh Raut and Animesh Kujur ran the first two legs.
The Indian quartet was disqualified and Kumar was seen being taken away from the Field of Play with the help of the volunteers.
It was a comedy of errors in the case of the women's 4x100m race, which saw the baton being dropped during an exchange between first leg runner Tamanna and second runner Nithya Gandhe, though the Indians finished the race in 53.09 seconds.
Gandhe started running quite a distance, but after realising that the baton was not in her hand, she turned and ran back to pick it up.
The only silver-lining for the Indian contingent was the national record time in the mixed 4x100m relay race, though the quartet of Ragul Kumar, Nithya Gandhe, Animesh Kujur and Sneha SS finished sixth in heat number two with a time of 41.35 seconds, bettering the previous national mark of 42.30 seconds set in March in Chandigarh.
The mixed 4x400m relay quartet of Theerthesh P Shetty, Kumari Saloni, Nihal William and Rashdeep Kaur ended at fifth in heat number one with a time of 3 minutes and 19.40 seconds.
On Saturday, all the five Indian relay teams had failed to make it to the respective final rounds and thus missed out on the 2027 World Championships berths.
