"He stood with the party, won't leave it", Congress' Digvijaya Singh plays down speculation of Kamal Nath switching to BJP

However another party veteran and Rajya Sabha MP Digvijaya Singh sought to play down the reports saying that he had spoken to Nath on Friday night and he was in Chhindwara.

"Kamal Nath is in Chhindwara...I had a conversation with Kamal Nath last night. He is in Chhindwara. The person who started his political career with the Nehru-Gandhi family and he stood together when the entire Janata Party and the then central government were sending Indira Gandhi to jail. How can you expect that person (Kamal Nath) to leave Sonia Gandhi and Indira Gandhi's families. You should not expect it," Singh told reporters.

Meanwhile, AICC in-charge of Madhya Pradesh Jitendra Singh also said that he did not think that Nath would leave the Congress party and would be joining any other party.

"The way he (Nath) has worked in the organisation since the time of Sanjay Gandhi (Son of Indira Gandhi) till now and the way he has a long relationship with the Congress, I do not think that he will leave the Congress and join any other party," Jitendra Singh said.

On Friday night, Nath had a close door meeting with senior Congress leaders of Chhindwara which included Govind Rai, Vishwanath Okte, Deepak Saxena and Sunil Jaiswal, Arunoday Choubey and Ramu Tekam at his residence in Chhindwara. Kamal Nath has been camped in Chhindwara for the last few days.

On February 10, amidst the speculation on him switching sides, Kamal Nath had posted a message on X affirming his allegiance to the Congress' ideology.

"The ideology of Congress is the ideology of truth, religion and justice. There is equal place and respect in the ideology of Congress for all religions, castes, regions, languages and ideas of the country. In the 138-year history of the Congress Party, most of the time has been spent in struggle and service. In the freedom struggle movement, there was a competition among the Congress leaders to serve the country in the struggle against dictatorship. Nation building is the only aim of Congress after independence," Nath had written.

The Congress leader further posted that the Congress Party and its ideology would counter the dictatorship and make the country the most beautiful and strong democracy in the world.

"Today, when efforts are being made to weaken the opposition in the country and democracy is being attacked, only the Congress Party and its ideology will counter the dictatorship and make the country the most beautiful and strong democracy in the world. We will create a golden India by following the path of Mahatma Gandhi, Pandit Jawahar Lal Nehru and Dr Bhim Rao Ambedkar," he had added in his post.

Earlier, several reports suggested that Kamal Nath and his son could join hands with the BJP. Nath who had been in charge of the state unit of the Congress failed to secure victory for the party in the recently concluded assembly polls and he was removed as PCC president. Kamal Nath, however, has already declared that his son Nakul the lone Congress MP from Madhya Pradesh would again contest as the party candidate from Chhindwara. (ANI)