Digvijaya Singh plays down speculation of Kamal Nath switching to BJP

Jabalpur (Madhya Pradesh): Reports of former Madhya Pradesh Congress Chief Kamal and his son Lok Sabha MP Nakul Nath flying down to Delhi on Saturday have once again resulted in speculation that the veteran Congress leader could switch sides to the 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 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 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.

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.

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)