Kanpur celebrates as 'son of town' Kamal Nath takes over reins of Madhya Pradesh

Kanpur: The newly sworn-in Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh Kamal Nath has a strong connect with the industrial town of Kanpur in Uttar Pradesh where he was born and also had his education.

Now that a "son of Kanpur" has become the Madhya Pradesh chief minister, the locals are celebrating blissfully along with the likes of his classmate RP Awasthi, a businessman who runs a confectionary shop in Khalisi Lines.

Kamal Nath, was born on January 18, 1946 in a reputed family in Khalasi Lines of McRobertganj and had made headlines in politics also when he was here, Awasthi recalled.

The new chief minister of Madhya Pradesh has deep ties with Kanpur which is also known as the Manchester of the East.

The Kanpurites are taking great pride in the fact that the chief minister belongs to Kanpur, he said.

Awasthi said Kamal Nath did his early schooling here and he was his classmate. But soon he left for the coveted Doon School and they lost touch.

He, however, returned to Kanpur and completed his studies in law from DAV College during which they met each other many times.

Soon after getting the law degree, he left the city and got active in politics and since then they drifted apart, Awasthi said.

Harprakash Agnihotri, the district president of Congress, said Kamal Nath completed his Bachelor of Commerce from St. Xavier's College, Kolkata before returning to Kanpur and got the degree in Law from DAV.

Agnihotri added Nath was an ambitious and forward thinking person from his early age and always had an interest in the politics.

He got the chance to hear senior national leaders, top office bearers and senior colleagues of Congress district committee many times and he met Sanjay Gandhi at the Doon School and became good friend with him, Agnihotri said.

He was very impressed with the vision and philosophy of Congress, Agnihotri said.

As soon as the news of victory of Congress in Madhya Pradesh came and Kamal Nath's chances of becoming the chief minister started making rounds, the city folks started celebrations over the success of the "son of the town".

72-year-old Kamal Nath was sworn in as the 18th chief minister of Madhya Pradesh after the Congress named the nine-time Lok Sabha member from Chhindwara to head the state Congress Legislature Party, following hours of hectic parleys held by party chief Rahul Gandhi and party leaders.