Bhopal: Speculations are rife in Congress circles here that party veteran and former chief minister Kamal Nath may be sent to Rajya Sabha to play a role in Central politics of the party in the wake of the debacle of the grand old party in the recently held Assembly elections in Madhya Pradesh.
Mr Nath’s recent meeting with Congress supremo Sonia Gandhi at Delhi has added grist to the rumour mill that there is a move in the party to send him to Rajya Sabha in the upcoming biennial elections to the upper house from Madhya Pradesh.
Biennial polls for five RS seats in Madhya Pradesh are going to be held on February 27.
While BJP with strength of 163 MLAs in the 230-member MP assembly is in a comfortable position to send four members to the upper house, Congress with strength of 66 members in the house is in a position to send one party nominee to RS.
However, a section of the party fears that BJP may try for cross voting in Congress to get its fifth candidate, if fielded by the saffron outfit, elected to RS. BJP is yet to open its card on the matter.
“In such a situation, Mr Nath can foil any such attempt and get him elected to RS if he is nominated by the party for the fifth seat”, a senior Congress functionary told this newspaper here on Saturday, requesting not to be quoted.
Mr Nath currently represents Chhindwara assembly constituency in Madhya Pradesh in the house.
Mr Nath has hardly any significant role to play for the party in Madhya Pradesh after he has been divested of posts of Congress Legislature Party (CLP) leadership and state party president.
He is now simply an MLA. Mr Nath has already made it clear that his son Nakul Nath will seek re-election from Chhindwara Lok Sabha constituency in the general elections.
Significantly, he has also been repeatedly saying that he is not going to leave Madhya Pradesh and shift to the Centre.
However, a question is being raised in the party as to if the Congress high command will allow both father and son to go to the parliament (Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha), risking rumblings in Congress over it.
Sources said that the Congress high command has sounded the signal that the party in Madhya Pradesh will go into the hands of second generation leaders by appointing former minister Jitu Patwari as state Congress president and Umang Singhar as Congress Legislature Party.
