More than a month after the assembly election debacle in Madhya Pradesh, Rahul Gandhi is said to have shut the communication channels with the ex chief minister of the state and veteran Congress leader Kamal Nath.
It is said that there is a lobby within Congress which tried to bring Kamal Nath in bad light (which the senior leaders claim is the truth) within Congress and publicly. According to sources close to leadership, it was one AICC general secretary who had invoked a national spokesperson to publicly accuse Nath of being hand in glove with BJP. A Congress leader close to Kamal Nath said, “A national spokesperson openly said that Nath has been closely working with BJP. Though, there was a show cause notice given to him and a response was sought within 3 days. Till now it has been two weeks and no action has been taken against him. Which shows that whatever he was speaking was coming from the central leadership of Congress.”
Besides the accusations, a Madhya Pradesh leader holding an official position in Congress said, “There are big leaders leaving the Congress and joining the BJP. From the past week every leader seems to be leaving from Mahakaushal region where from Kamal Nath is. More than that, there are leaders leaving who are close to Nath. Why is every leader leaving from that region only? There are a set of speculations circulating within the party. There is a gossip going within Congress that one Rajya Sabha MP close to Kamal Nath may also leave the Congress and join BJP. It is also being said that around 15 legislators (including seven legislators in Chindwara) have already agreed to go with Kamal Nath if he switches party.”
Apart from the current political developments, during the assembly elections, a leader said, when Sunil Konugolu’s (Congress’ ace political strategist) team was camping at Nath’s residence, there was a strife which led Nath to expel him. And Rahul Gandhi after knowing the incident had directly called up the then AICC general secretary Madhya Pradesh Randeep Singh Surjewala to arrange for another place for Konugolu. The leader added, “Even then Rahul Gandhi chose to directly call Surjewala than Kamal Nath. That shows how much the Gandhi scion disbelieved Nath at that time as well.”
Moreover, there is an anti-Nath sentiment emerging within a considerable chunk of Congress cadre who seem to have established Nath’s association with BJP. However, party leaders are tightlipped about any development happening within the party and say that Nath is an all time Congress man and will stay with the party. Congress spokesperson in Madhya Pradesh Mithun Singh Ahirwar said to The Sunday Guardian, “We are continuously communicating with all our leaders and Kamal Nath ji has a stature in the party and respected by every leader including Rahul Gandhi ji. These are just rumours that Rahul ji has stopped talking to Kamal Nathi ji. Moreover, he has categorically cleared it that he will stay in the party. He is a committed worker of the party.”