Bhopal: Leaders who see a better future with the BJP and if their thoughts match with the saffron party, can go there. People are working for the Congress of their own will and no one is pressurised to do so, said veteran Congress leader and former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Kamal Nath.
Nath made this statement while replying to a bunch of questions from mediapersons in Bhopal. Nath, who is also leading the party in Madhya Pradesh as MPCC chief since 2018 and under whose leadership the party had won the last assembly elections, added that he will offer his car to those wanting to go to the BJP.
Nath’s comment came amid the Congress’s failure to prevent an exodus from the party as eight of its Goa MLAs last week joined the long list of Congress leaders who have switched to the BJP in recent years, including over 22 from Madhya Pradesh.
When asked about the exodus, Nath told reporters, “What are you thinking? Congress will be finished? You are saying some people want to join the BJP. Whoever wants to join the BJP can go. We don’t want to stop anyone.”
“I am not one who believes in buttering anyone. Those (Congress leaders) see their better future and their thoughts gel with the BJP, they can go. I can’t stop them. I would even lend them my car to go and join the BJP,” he added.
There is a long list of Congress leaders, including from Madhya Pradesh, who have switched to the BJP in the last one and a half years. In a recent setback to the Congress in the state, Nath’s close aide Arunoday Choubey, a former MLA from Madhya Pradesh, also resigned from the party a few days back.
Before him, former Rajya Sabha MP Ghulam Nabi Azad quit the grand old party, following which hundreds of party leaders and workers from Kashmir also tendered their resignation. A couple of weeks back, senior BJP leader and Madhya Pradesh Home Minister taking a dig at Nath questioned the latter’s leadership saying that over 50 Congress MLAs have turned rebels ever since Nath took charge of the MP Congress.
–IANS