MP polls: Kamal Nath files nomination from Chhindwara, recalls his first election from his pocket borough

Bhopal: Congress’ Madhya Pradesh chief Kamal Nath on Thursday filed his nominations paper for the November 17 Assembly elections from his pocket borough Chhindwara.

The 76-year-old veteran Congress leader, who won nine consecutive Lok Sabha elections from his home district Chhindwara, is contesting the Assembly election for the first time.

Last time, he had contested a by-poll in 2019 to fulfill the mandatory procedure to become the member of the Assembly for the chief ministerial post and had won against the BJP’s Vivek Sahu by a margin of 25,837 votes.

Before leaving for filing his nomination, Kamal Nath addressed a gathering of his supporters and recalled the time when he made his political debut from Chhindwara.

“While sitting here on stage today, it reminds the very day when I had field my nomination first time in 1979. I was young and I was not very much aware about politics. I had then gone to each home to seek your support and today I can say that you have not only elected me for the last 45 years but you gave your love to me,” he said.

Recalling the memories of his first election, Kamal Nath said when he won the first election from Chhindwara, he was clueless what to do and how to do?

“Only 480 out of 2,000 villages in Chhindwara district were connected with electricity and I started working to provide electricity to each home. People living in many villages were out cut from the world at that time because there was no road connectivity and to used come out from their villages very rarely. Now, 45 years later, Chhindwara is a model district in the country,” he added.

During the election campaign across Madhya Pradesh, Kamal Nath highlights the development of his home district as ‘model of development’. He has set up several skill centers and factories in Chhindwara in the past 40 years, which is why he remained undefeated from there since 1980.

In the 2019 general elections, the BJP under the wave of Prime Minister Narendra Modi won 28 out 29 Lok Sabha seats in Madhya Pradesh, but his son Nakul Nath was elected MP from Chhindwara.

In 2018, Kamal Nath constructed 108 feet-high idol of Lord Hanuman in his home district that helped him to project himself as a devotee of Lord Hanuman and also to counter the BJP’s traditional strategy of presenting him as anti-Hindui.

Even as some section of Congress leaders would hesitate to speak over Sanatan Dharma or soft-Hindutva issues, Kamal Nath would straightforwardly say: “I am a Hindu and I am proud of it, but I am not a fool.”

Even on Thursday, when press reporters sought his reply on Ram Temple in Ayodhya is getting ready to be open for public after a grand ceremony, Kamal Nath said: “Ram is the identity of Sanatan Dharma. Ram Mandir is not BJP’s property, it is the identity of India and we all are proud of it.”

Kamal Nath, who get elected as Lok Sabha MP for a record nine times, headed several ministries in the Centre including serving as commerce minister during the Dr. Manmohan Singh-led UPA government, took command of the Congress in Madhya Pradesh few months before the 2018 Assembly elections.

The party, which has been out of power for the last 15 years, was suffering with high factionalism but Kamal Nath managed to defeat the ruling BJP. The Congress won 114 seats in the 230-member house against BJP’s 109, and managed to formed the government with the help of the Samajwadi Party and Independent MLAs.

However, the factionalism came to the fore again his government lasted only 15 months as it collapsed in March 2020 after several MLAs loyal to Jyotiraditya Scindia quit the Congress and joined the BJP. The development paved the way for the saffron party’s return to power in the state with Shivraj Singh Chouhan becoming the Chief Minister once again.

Now, after three and half year, Kamal Nath has revived the Congress cadre with bringing changes in the party from top to bottom. He changed the process of selection of candidates and made the survey survey system for candidates’ selection.

His senior party colleague and Rajya Sabha member Digvijaya Singh has even said recently: “I have been the part of selecting candidates for 30 years, but I this time, things were very different. Multiple process were implement to ensure full transparency in selection of candidates.”

Elections to the 230-member Madhya Pradesh assembly will be held on November 17, and the counting of votes will be taken up on December 3.

–IANS