Is buzz around Congress leaders Kamal Nath, Manish Tewari and BJP ‘baseless’, ‘unfounded’

Tribune Web Desk

Vibha Sharma

Chandigarh, February 20

Party leaders have dismissed as “rumours” reports that Congress veteran leader Kamal Nath is joining the BJP.

Nath himself is playing close to the chest, neither denying nor accepting speculation that he and his son Nakul Nath are on the way into the BJP.

In a brief interaction with the media a couple of days back, Nath did not categorically deny the possibility of his switch to the BJP unlike the “office” of Congress MP Manish Tewari which termed as “baseless” and “unfounded” the similar speculation about him.

On whether he was joining the BJP, Nath said, “I told you that if anything like that happens, I shall immediately inform you first.”

On if he was in touch with the BJP, Nath said, “I have not spoken to anyone.”

Manish Tewari, the Chandigarh angle

Though the speculation that Manish Tewari joining the BJP was rubbished by his “office”, sources claim “talks between the Anandpur Sahib MP contesting on a BJP ticket happened”.

The clarification came after reports claiming that the Congress MP was “in touch with the BJP and planning to contest from Ludhiana on the saffron party’s symbol”. 

“He (Tewari) is working for the people of his constituency (Anandpur Sahib) and the speculation of him joining the BJP is false and unfounded. It is all rubbish and shouldn’t even be dignified with a response or clarification,” news agencies quoted unnamed sources as saying.

The buzz, however, also is that Tewari is in fact “trying for the Chandigarh Lok Sabha seat for which Anupam Kher, husband of the sitting BJP MP Kirron Kher, is also aiming”.

The Congress leaders also dismissed the “Chandigarh angle” as “baseless rumours”, pointing to Tewari’s appointment as a permanent invitee to the Congress Working Committee (CWC) last year.

Tewari, a part of the “G23, a group of dissenters who urged for extensive overhaul of the Congress organisation in 2020”, was inducted into the CWC by Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge. “He has done very well in the Congress, also serving as a Union minister. He is now working for the betterment of his constituency and the party,” they add.  

But with high-profile leaders like Jyotiraditya Scindia, RPN Singh, Jitin Prasada, Milind Deora and more recently Ashok Chavan, who was also a chief minister, making a beeline for the BJP, observers say in politics anything is possible.

The Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra angle

Congress leaders claim Kamal Nath is not quitting, but reports suggest that general secretary Jitendra Singh is in Madhya Pradesh to assess the ground situation there.

According to reports, who’s who in the Congress, including Kharge, Rahul Gandhi and Digvijaya Singh, have been in touch with the former Madhya Pradesh chief minister. 

On Monday, Jitendra Singh termed as “misinformation” the rumours of Nath joining the BJP.

“Kamal Nath ji is a senior leader of our party. All this speculation has been made by the BJP and the media. I spoke to him yesterday (Sunday) and the day before yesterday (Saturday) also and we discussed the preparations of the Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra.

“Nath not only has political but also family relations with the Gandhis,” he was quoted as saying. 

Rather, MP Congress chief Jitu Patwari said Nath himself told him he was not going anywhere. 

Sources, however, predicted “something major happening in Madhya Pradesh around the time when Rahul Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra enters the state for creating the maximum impact in favour of the BJP”.  

Chhindwara — the lone Congress seat in MP

In the 2019 general election, the BJP swept the state winning 28 out of 29 seats and the Congress won only one seat--Chhindwara. 

Nath, a multiple time MP from the constituency, is currently an MLA while Nakul Nath represents the family bastion in the Lok Sabha.

Nath was removed as state chief after Congress’s dismal performance in the recent Assembly elections that the BJP won. 

According to reports, speculation that he was parting ways with Congress started after he was “denied a Rajya Sabha ticket by the central leadership”.

Observers say Nath’s aim may be “to settle son Nakul in a party with better future” but the BJP’s problem will be to accommodate Congress MLAs who also will cross over with him.

The BJP can give Chhindwara to Nakul but what about the MLAs, how will they be accommodated,” they wonder. Meanwhile, the suspense continues.

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