Amid switchover buzz, Kamal Nath’s son says will walk with Rahul when yatra passes through MP

Meanwhile, the BJP says nearly 1,500 Congress workers had joined the party in Chhindwara, the only seat held by it in Madhya Pradesh.

File photo of father-son duo Kamal Nath (L) and Nakul Nath (R) | ANI

Bhopal: Madhya Pradesh Congress leader Nakul Nath said Thursday that he would personally welcome Rahul Gandhi’s outreach yatra when it entered the state on 2 March, thereby scotching the buzz that the Chhindwara MP and his father — former state chief minister Kamal Nath — may switch to the BJP.

Nath told ThePrint that he would walk with Gandhi once his Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra steps into Madhya Pradesh through Morena. His father has already participated — albeit virtually — in a preparatory meeting for the yatra’s Madhya Pradesh leg.

Meanwhile, the state BJP has said that nearly 1,500 Congress workers joined the party Wednesday in the presence of Chief Minister Mohan Yadav during a programme in Chhindwara.

Among the prominent names to switch over from Kamal Nath’s bastion were state unit secretary Ujjwal Singh Chouhan alias Ajju Thakur, his brother Praveen Singh Chouhan and chairman of Pandhurna municipality Sandeep Dhaturiya, along with several councillors and sarpanches.

However, Congress refuted the numbers, saying a little over 70 party workers had gone to the BJP and these were mostly followers of Ujjwal Singh Chouhan.

Pandhurna is one of the seven assembly segments in the Chhindwara constituency. It is also the only seat among MP’s 29 constituencies which is with the Congress. Kamal Nath has been elected from here nine times, and its current MP is his son.

‘Chhindwara will vote for Modi’

At Wednesday’s rally, Chief Minister Mohan Yadav exuded confidence that the people of Chhindwara would vote for the prime minister in the coming Lok Sabha elections. He also inaugurated projects worth Rs 178.26 crore for the area, and of Rs 761 crore for nearby Balaghat.

He told the people that he would make all efforts for the development of Chhindwara “much like how Prime Minister Narendra Modi had left no stone unturned for the development of the country”.

Sending a cryptic message to the Congress, Yadav said: “People who have not come now will soon join the BJP.”

Meanwhile, Nakul Nath complained on social media platform X that work on a local medical college was still incomplete as the BJP had stopped funds. He wrote that this had deprived “thousands of people from getting necessary medical treatment”.

Nath also referred to a lack of facilities at Chhindwara University, and damage suffered by farmers from hailstorms.

(Edited by Tikli Basu)