Kamal Nath was first elected to the 7th Lok Sabha in 1980. (FILE)
Madhya Pradesh Congress chief Jitu Patwari on Saturday recalled how former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi had described Kamal Nath as her "third son" as he dismissed the speculation that the party veteran may jump the ship to join the BJP.
Mr Nath's colleague in the party and former Madhya Pradesh chief minister Digvijaya Singh also rubbished the rumours and dubbed them a "media creation".
"These talks about Kamal Nath are baseless. Indiraji had introduced Mr Nath as her third son while addressing a public meeting (in Chhindwara) when he fought elections for the first time in 1980," Mr Patwari told reporters in Bhopal.
"Can anyone dream of Indiraji's third son quitting Congress?" he questioned.
Mr Nath was first elected to the 7th Lok Sabha in 1980. He had represented the Chhindwara constituency in Lok Sabha nine times in the past. Currently, he is the MLA from Chhindwara while his son Nakul Nath is the local MP.
The 77-year-old politician is said to be disgruntled over not getting a Rajya Sabha berth and also Rahul Gandhi being opposed to him since the party lost the assembly polls late last year.
Amid speculation that he could cross over to the BJP, Mr Nath arrived in Delhi on Saturday afternoon and said if there would be any such thing, he would inform the media first.
In his brief interaction with reporters, the former chief minister of Madhya Pradesh asked them not to get excited.
Mr Patwari, however, denied reports that Mr Nath was in a sulk after being denied nomination to Rajya Sabha from Congress.
"Nath proposed the name of Ashok Singh as the Congress nominee for Rajya Sabha which was endorsed unanimously by party leaders," he added.
An astute politician who had worked with three generations of the Gandhi family, Mr Nath's relations with Madhya Pradesh date back to 1979-80, when former prime minister Indira Gandhi had described him as her “third son”.
This famous description eventually led to the slogan “Indira ke do haath, Sanjay Gandhi aur Kamal Nath“.
Mr Patwari said the friendship between Mr Nath and Sanjay Gandhi was very famous in the 1970s.
He said Mr Nath has been associated with the Nehru-Gandhi family for decades and enjoyed the confidence of former prime ministers Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi whose ideology he supported. Nath also gelled well with former Congress presidents Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi.
"Just two months ago, every worker of Congress worked hard to make him chief minister," he said referring to the Madhya Pradesh assembly elections.
Notably, the crushing defeat of Congress at the hands of the BJP in the electoral contest is largely believed as the reason behind Nath falling out of favour of the Congress top brass.
Mr Patwari further said Mr Nath stood behind the Congress like a rock during the bad patch when the government led by him was toppled by Jyotiraditya Scindia after joining the BJP in March 2020.
"When Jyotiraditya Scindia was pulling down the Nath-led government, we tried hard with an objective that he retains the Chief Minister's post. Do you think Kamal Nathji will leave us?" he asked.
Though speculations about Kamal Nath's shift to BJP have been going on for the last few days, they got a fresh boost on Friday when state BJP president VD Sharma said Nath and his son are welcome in the BJP if they are unhappy with Congress' decision to boycott the Ayodhya Ram mandir consecration event.
Meanwhile, Digvijaya Singh suggested that Kamal Nath who started his political innings with the Nehru-Gandhi family could never leave the party.
"Don't get into the breaking business. I spoke with Kamal Nathji last night around 10.30 or 11. He is in Chhindwara. The person who started his political innings with the Gandhi and Nehru family....He stood behind the party when the entire Janata Party and the then government was sending (former PM) Indiraji to jail,” he told reporters in Jabalpur.
“Can you believe that such a man will leave Congress, Soniaji and Indiraji family? You all should not even think of it,” Mr Singh added.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)