MP ex-CM Kamal Nath eyes Parliament return, likely to take RS route

MP ex-CM Kamal Nath eyes Parliament return, likely to take RS route

BHOPAL: After spending six years in Madhya Pradesh politics, former chief minister and senior Congress leader Kamal Nath is likely to go to Rajya Sabha in April.

Five Upper House seats are being vacated from the state on April 2 — four are with BJP and one with Congress. Nath, who represented the Chhindwara Lok Sabha seat for nine terms from 1980 to 2019, will return to Parliament, party sources told TOI Saturday.

Nath, the Chhindwara legislator, has called a dinner for all Congress MLAs at his residence on Feb 13. Party sources said he will file his papers for the Rajya Sabha election on Feb 15, the first day of nominations.

The former Union minister had taken over the reins of the party six months before the 2018 assembly polls. Congress fell just short of majority but formed govt with the help of allies and Nath became CM. Fifteen months into the Congress tenure, Jyotiraditya Scindia rebelled along with some loyalists and switched to BJP. The Nath govt fell.

Nath contested the Nov 2023 assembly polls as the Congress chief ministerial face, but BJP swept the election, winning 163 of 230 seats. Congress was reduced to 66.

On Saturday, Nath took to social media and posted his views on Congress’s history, its involvement in the freedom struggle and its goal of constructing a golden India.

“The ideology of Congress is the ideology of truth, religion and justice. There is equal place and respect in the ideology of Congress for all religions, castes, regions, languages and ideas of the country,” Nath posted on X.

“In the 138-year history of Congress, most of the time has been spent in struggle and service. In the freedom movement, there was a competition among Congress leaders to serve the country in the fight against dictatorship. After Independence, nation building has been the only aim for Congress,” he wrote.

“Today, when efforts are being made to weaken the opposition in the country and democracy is being attacked, only Congress and its ideology can counter the dictatorship and make this country the most beautiful and strongest democracy in the world. We will create a golden India by following the path of Gandhiji, Nehruji and Ambedkarji,” Nath stated.

The terms of four BJP Rajya Sabha MPs from Madhya Pradesh ends in April — Union minister for education Dharmendra Pradhan, Union MoS for fisheries and animal husbandry L Murugan, BJP’s Kailash Soni who is national president of the Loktantra Sainani Sangh and former state BJP general secretary Ajay Pratap Singh. Murugan was elected to the Rajya Sabha on October 4, 2021, after the seat was vacated by former Union minister Thawar Chand Gehlot, who was made the Karnataka Governor.

Former Congress MLA and the party’s senior OBC face Rajmani Patel also completes his tenure in Rajya Sabha on April 2. Kamal Nath will fill this seat, said sources. Congress has three of the 11 RS seats in Madhya Pradesh — former CM Digvijaya Singh and eminent lawyer Vivek Tankha are the two others.

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