CHHINDWARA: Chhindwara is a key battleground for the Congress and the BJP since the seat has been held for 40 years by former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Kamal Nath who has been an MP from the constituency for four decades before he won the Chhindwara Assembly seat in a bypoll in 2019.
In an exclusive interview with The New Indian‘s Executive Editor Rohan Dua, Nakul Nath, Kamal Nath’s son and the possessor of Rs 650 crore in assets, revealed his preference for maintaining a low profile. When questioned about the reason behind his humility and modesty despite substantial wealth, Nakul clarified that although he is not shy of the media, he prefers to keep a low profile, stating, “I’m not shy of the media at all. Yes, I do like to keep a low profile.”
The Lok Sabha MP, who is the richest MP of 2019, shared that he shares a deep relationship with the people of the constituency. “See, my relationship with Chhindwara has been there for the last 44 years. So, I treat every person of Chhindwara as a family member,” he expressed.
The confident son also expressed his belief in his father Kamal Nath’s potential candidacy for chief minister in the Congress, anticipating victory in the elections. He affirmed, “This will definitely be a hurrah. I won’t say it’ll be the last hurrah but it’ll definitely be a hurrah.”
“We held a very aggressive and a strong campaign and I’m sure that will pay off on December 3,” he added, asserting his confidence in the grand old party forming a government in Madhya Pradesh.
The MP suggested that the party has cleansed itself, alluding to the departure of Jyotiraditya Scindia, which resulted in the downfall of the Congress government led by Kamal Nath. “I think we’ve gotten rid of all the dirt from the congress party and that’s the biggest lesson we’ve learned,” he said while stating that the lessons from the last debacle of Congress government, that lasted for one and a half years, have been learned.
Nath has a firm belief that the people of MP are fed up with the 18-year-long rule of BJP in the state. He also took a dig at Scindia by stating that the biggest winning margin that the party will record against the BJP would be from the Gwalior-Chambal region, which is the bastion of the defector Jyotiraditya.
“I think the people of Madhya Pradesh have been fed up with the BJP and I can assure you that the biggest victory margin will be from the Gwalior Chambal region,” he said.
“We’ve just gone with the basic issues (in this time’s campaign trail) which are the problems of today that the people of Madhya Pradesh face. One is unemployment, second on inflation, and third is corruption,” he added.
When asked about the charges of corruption by the Congress against the BJP in the state, he revealed, “The biggest scandal in the state of Madhya Pradesh today is the ‘Mahakal Lok scandal’.”
The MP also shared a common thread with former Congress leaders like Jyotiraditya Scindia, Jitin Prasad, Captain Amarinder Singh, and RPN Singh who have now parted ways with the party — Doon School. On being asked about what makes them stay in the party and give his strong support to Rahul Gandhi, he said, “Well it’s their personal decision. I’m still friendly with all of them and don’t forget Rahul Gandhi also went to Doon School.”