New Delhi, 17 Feb

Senior Congress leader and former Madhya Pradesh chief minister Kamal Nath arrived in the national capital on Saturday afternoon amid speculation that he could cross over to the BJP.

Over the past few days, Nath had been on a tour of his bastion Chhindwara, from where he had been an MP for nine terms. His son Nakul Nath won the seat in the 2019 polls, even as the BJP swept the remaining 28 seats in the state.

Asked about the speculation that Nath could cross over to the BJP, senior Congress leader Digvijaya Singh said in Jabalpur earlier in the day, "I spoke to Kamal Nath at 10.30 pm yesterday (Friday), he is in Chhindwara." "A person who started his political journey and stood with the Nehru-Gandhi family when Indira Gandhi was sent to jail by the Janata party, do you think such a person will ever leave Congress and the Gandhi family?" Singh said.

Kamal Nath 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. Nath was replaced as the party's Madhya Pradesh unit chief following its rout in the assembly polls, in which the BJP retained power winning 163 seats in the 230-member House. The Congress managed to win just 66 seats.