Can 'third son' of Indira Gandhi ever leave party? MP Cong chief on Kamal Nath's BJP switch talk

Bhopal: 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.

Nath's colleague in the party and former Madhya Pradesh chief minister Digvijaya Singh also rubbished the rumours and dubbed them a "media creation".

"Can you dream of the third son of Indiraji (Gandhi) joining the BJP? " Patwari told reporters.

He said 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.

Amid speculation that he could cross over to the BJP, Kamal Nath arrived in New 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, he asked them not to get excited.

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,” he added.

An astute politician who had worked with three generations of the Gandhi family, Nath's relations with Madhya Pradesh date back to 1979, when former prime minister Indira Gandhi had described him as her “third son”.