Kamal Nath meets Sonia Gandhi, aims at Rajya Sabha seat

Former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister and Congress veteran Kamal Nath met Sonia Gandhi in New Delhi

Former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister and Congress veteran Kamal Nath met Sonia Gandhi in New Delhi on Friday ahead of the Rajya Sabha elections on February 27 in which five seats from the State will be up for grabs. 

Out of the five seats going to polls from the State, the Congress, which has 66 MLAs in the State Assembly, has sufficient numbers for one seat. Even though there was no official word on the meeting, Congress insiders in Delhi and Bhopal told The Hindu that Mr. Nath is eyeing a place in the Upper House of the Parliament and held discussions with Ms. Gandhi regarding the same. 

A State Congress functionary said that Mr. Nath does not wants to remain “just an MLA” after he was removed as the State unit president.

“His son [Chhindwara Lok Sabha MP Nakul Nath] has already announced that he will contest again from the seat. And Kamal Nath ji wants to get a Rajya Sabha seat too and assert that he is still relevant in the State politics,” the leader said, adding that off late Mr. Nath has felt “sidelined” in the State unit.  

Meanwhile, two Congress MLAs also confirmed that Mr. Nath has also invited all Congress legislators in the State for a dinner at his Bhopal resident on February 13.

“The dinner will obviously be a show of strength and since he had an upper hand in the ticket distribution during Assembly polls, many MLAs are still with him. The number of MLAs that show up will clear many things,” one MLA said, requisition anonymity. 

The meeting also comes amid days of speculations that Mr. Nath might end his decades-old association with the Congress and join the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).