Kamal Nath to the rescue again as Congress stumbles in Rajasthan

Earlier, in June 2022, as the Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi government came under a threat, with a major chunk of the Shiv Sena breaking away, Nath had been rushed by the Congress as the AICC observer to salvage the situation.

A veteran parliamentarian, ex-Union minister and astute politician who has cultivated acquaintances across all parties in his long career, the 75-year-old has taken over the mantle as the Congress’s go-to man for handling crises since the demise of its principal peacemaker Ahmed Patel in November 2020.

Nath had also played a crucial role in the forging of the MVA coalition in November 2019, working alongside Patel and fellow veteran Sharad Pawar of the NCP.

According to Congress insiders, as the NCP and Congress dilly-dallied over joining hands with the Shiv Sena at the time, it was Nath who brought them around, arguing that unlike the BJP, the Sena did not have umbilical links with the RSS.

Nath’s word carries the weight of his long career in the Congress, much of that working closely with three generations of the Gandhis – Indira, Rajiv, Sonia and Rahul. In 1980, then Congress chief Indira Gandhi had described Nath as her “third son”. He was seen as a close associate of the late Sanjay Gandhi, and later of Rajiv Gandhi, tasked with managing allies and the Opposition. In the Union Cabinets of both P V Narasimha Rao and Manmohan Singh, Nath held various portfolios.

To this clout, the 76-year-old has now added electoral heft, after managing to lead the Congress to victory in Madhya Pradesh in the November 2018 Assembly elections. While a long-time MP and also MLA from tribal-dominated Chhindwara in Madhya Pradesh, Nath was considered an outsider till then, with his politics confined to Delhi. Born in Kanpur to an established business family, and raised in Kolkata, he was far removed from the BJP’s popular CM-face Shivraj Singh Chouhan, an OBC leader from farming background.

The November 2018 win was the Congress’s first in Madhya Pradesh in 15 years, and a crucial one in the Hindu heartland after its string of poll losses.

While the BJP had toppled the Nath government in months, with Jyotiradiya Scindia breaking away from the Congress with 20 MLAs, the veteran himself is here to stay.

As the next Assembly elections approach in Madhya Pradesh, the 76-year-old is the unchallenged CM face of the Congress – and, it is clear, remains as relevant at the Centre.