Will Nakul Nath Be Able To Protect His Father’s Legacy In Chhindwara?(image-X/NakulKNath)
The Bharatiya Janata Party has played an interesting card against former Madhya Pradesh chief minister Kamal Nath and his son and sitting MP Nakul Nath in the Chhindwara Lok Sabha seat. Although the saffron party has fielded district president Vivek “Bunty” Sahu, who faced defeat against Kamal Nath in the past two assembly polls, the BJP banks on wielding the support of Congress defectors to break the grand old party’s winning streak since 1998.
With hardly any close associates left by his side, Nakul expresses confidence in the people of Chhindwara and their support. In the pocket borough of his father, Nakul has been described largely as an absentee MP by the locals. They claim that the incumbent MP has not made much of an impact in the region in the last five years, and his biggest strength is his political stalwart father.
Meanwhile, Nakul claims that he has his own connection with the people and has stepped out of his shadow. “My father has a relationship with the people. But I have been active for several years now,” he said, as quoted by the Indian Express.
Kamal Nath has won the Chhindwara seat nine times – from 1980 to 91 and then from 1998 to 2014, losing once in a by-election in 1997. In 2019, his son won the parliamentary constituency with 5.4 lakh votes and a margin of 37,000 votes, defeating the BJP”s Nathan Shah, who secured over 5 lakh votes. In the 2019 general elections, the BJP won 28 seats in the state except Chhindwara.
BJP leader Kailash Vijayvargiya, the state’s urban development minister, said, “If you remove Kamal Nath from the picture, Nakul is a complete zero.”
Notably, in the 2019 assembly elections, Kamal Nath secured 1.1 lakh votes and won the Chhindwara assembly constituency, while Vivek Sahu managed to earn over 88 thousand votes. In 2023 as well, Nath won with 1.3 lakh votes, beating Sahu, who won 95,708 votes.
One of the 29 Lok Sabha constituencies of Madhya Pradesh, Congress’ citadel Chhindwara comprises seven Vidhan Sabhas such as Junnardeo, Pandhurna, Sausar, Chourai, Chhindwara, Amarwara, and Parasiya.
The lone Congress MP from Madhya Pradesh to be renominated, Nakul Nath, is the richest candidate with assets worth Rs 716 crore in the first phase of the Lok Sabha elections. According to the Association of Democratic Reforms (ADR), he ranked first (out of 475) in the list of Lok Sabha crorepati members in 2019.
