Posters against Kamal Nath trigger row in Madhya Pradesh

Posters calling former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister and current State Congress chief Kamal Nath “Wanted Commission Nath” were put up by unidentified persons in Bhopal on June 23, prompting a war of words between the two political camps in poll-bound Madhya Pradesh. 

Posters calling former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister and current State Congress chief Kamal Nath “Wanted Commission Nath” were put up by unidentified persons in Bhopal on June 23, prompting a war of words between the two political camps in poll-bound Madhya Pradesh. 

While the Congress alleged that the act was “dirty politics” by the BJP, the ruling party denied having anything to do with the posters and said it was a result of internal politics within the Congress. 

The posters that were spotted in Manisha Market, Shahpura and Shaitan Singh intersection areas of the State capital, label Mr. Nath as corrupt along with a QR code that leads to the message ‘Who did the farmer loan waiver scam of 25,000 crores, CD scam of 350 crores, mobile scam of 1,963 crores, wheat bonus scam of 1,178 crores, fertilizer scam of 600 crores’ in Hindi. These alleged “scams” pertain to Mr. Nath’s tenure as Chief Minister between late 2018 and early 2020 and the BJP has often made these allegations in the past.  

Mr. Nath described the posters as an unsuccessful attempt by the BJP to humiliate him, also asserting that he had a clean record despite a long career in politics. 

“The people are my witness and you journalists may also not have heard even one allegation of corruption in the 47 years that I have spent in public life. Today, they are putting up posters. They are not ashamed to stoop so low in politics. They are also witness to how corrupt are they [the BJP leaders] themselves are,” said Mr. Nath. 

Attacking the BJP State government on corruption, Mr. Nath added that each and every BJP leader was involved in corruption. “No act of corruption is possible in the State if the Chief Minister is not a partner in it. From panchayat to secretariat, they have made a system in which one has to pay money to get work done,” he alleged. 

Distancing the BJP from the posters, party’s State president V.D. Sharma said the tussle within the Congress had come to the fore and that it was a “battle between sons”, referring to the sons of Mr. Nath and another former Chief Minister Digvijaya Singh, both elected representatives.