Bhopal: Congress veteran Kamal Nath is unperturbed about exits of leaders from the social gathering forward of the Lok Sabha polls in Madhya Pradesh, saying that the defectors had been related to the BJP in a method or one other, together with enterprise.
The nine-time MP scotched rumours of becoming a member of the BJP and asserted that he had by no means thought of leaving the social gathering nor was in contact with anybody from the opposition camp.
Nath has been on the marketing campaign for Congress candidates in Madhya Pradesh the place the BJP had gained all of the 29 Lok Sabha seats barring Chhindwara that voted for his son Nakul Nath in 2019.
“I said, you (defectors) do what you feel like. Without going into the reasons, they were themselves associated with the BJP in business and all other kinds of things. I do not want to get into that as in the end, it is not the leaders that matter but the people that matter. And the question is how did people react to it,” Nath stated when requested concerning the ongoing defections and never with the ability to cease the exits from the social gathering for the previous two months..
Among the greatest faces to exit from the Congress are from Kamal Nath’s bastion like Chhindwara mayor Vikram Ahake, Amarwara MLA Kamlesh Shah, former Chhindwara MLA Deepak Saxena and his youngest son Ajay Saxena.
Notably, Deepak Saxena had resigned from Chhindwara after Kamal Nath had turn out to be the Madhya Pradesh CM in 2018. However 15 months later, Kamal Nath resigned from the highest submit in March 2020 after senior chief Jyotiraditya Scindia defected with practically two dozen MLAs to the BJP.
The most recent collection of defections additionally come on the heels of Nath’s rumoured transfer to the BJP in February.
“Nothing happened, it all started in the press. People did come to me from Chhindwara saying why don’t you join the BJP. I said, ‘Haan theek hai sunliya’ (gave them an audience and heard) to get rid of them.. ‘Haan theek hai sochte hai (fine, I will consider it)’.. Just to ward them off and that started media speculation,” Nath advised ThePrint.
“And I never ever said I was talking to the BJP; I never ever said I was going to join the BJP. When the press asked, I said, ‘I never said this, you correct yourselves; you don’t have to ask me to correct it’. I know so many BJP leaders, but I was never in touch with them from the point of view of joining… No.”
Voting will happen on 19 April, 26 April, 7 Could and 13 Could in Madhya Pradesh. Chhindwara will vote on 19 April the place the battle is between Nakul Nath and BJP’s Vivek Bunty Sahu.
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‘Nothing is perfect’
Having been with the Congress for the previous 5 a long time, and famously known as because the third son of Indira Gandhi, Nath is frank about what he feels is “wrong” with the social gathering.
“Everything is not wrong with the Congress; there is nothing that is perfect. Let’s not say that… There are things to be rectified. We have to look at organisations. Politics has changed very much in the last 40 years, and this change has to be recognised, accepted and acted upon,” he stated.
“Politics has also become very localised. It is not a global issue; it is not a national issue; it is a local issue. This localised politics must be understood. Today, there is social media; previously there was no social media. And five years ago, there were 25 percent people on social media. Today, 99 percent are on social media. People are more aware.”
Commenting on the autumn of his authorities in 2020, Nath alleged that the MLAs who left with Scindia selected to go away for the cash being provided.
“I don’t want to say that they were Scindia loyalists. They went there for money and they would call me from Bangalore and tell me, ‘today, we got five crores; tomorrow we are going to get this much’. One of them also came and told me that. ‘I got five crores, can you keep it for me? But, there are certain things that I decided that I would not do in principle. I was not hungry to be the CM, but I must say that I want to be ethically, morally and principally correct.”
Because the BJP’s gambit of mountaineering the month-to-month sum of Rs 1,000 to Rs 3,000 below the Ladli Behan Scheme proved a masterstroke within the state election, Nath asserted that this could backfire on the ruling social gathering.
“I was the first one to announce that when our government comes, we will give Rs 1,500. Then they announced Rs 1,200 and then they said of making it to Rs 1,500 and going up to Rs 3,000. They have not been able to do that. Women are angry about that. It will now be counter productive,” he stated.
And at the same time as pre-polls surveys predicting a return of the NDA authorities, Nath commenting on the relevancy of the Gandhi household for the Congress.
“Of course, they are an integral part of the Congress and so is Priyanka Gandhi. They (people) ask me here, ‘why don’t you call Rahul Gandhi here’. So I said for what; they said, ‘Nahi hum milna chahte hai, unki baat sunna chahte hai’ (we want to meet and hear them). This (question on relevancy of) Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi is largely an urban issue, a Lutyens Delhi issue.” he stated, earlier than as plunged again to marketing campaign for his son Nakul Nath in residence turf of Chhindwara.
(Edited by Tony Rai)
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