Nath says INDIA bloc’s poll show to give new direction to politics, reflects on Chhindwara loss

Chhindwara (MP), Jun 6 (PTI) Senior Congress leader Kamal Nath has said the INDIA bloc has won a sizeable number of seats in the Lok Sabha polls and the opposition alliance’s performance will give a new direction to national politics in the days to come.

Asked about his son and sitting MP Nakul Nath’s defeat from Chhindwara, the only seat won by the Congress in 2019, the former Madhya Pradesh chief minister on Wednesday said, “It is not the question of just one seat, but of a major defeat in the state.”

The Congress veteran called for a “post-mortem” to find reasons behind the party’s shock defeat in Chhindwara.

The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) swept the Lok Sabha polls in Madhya Pradesh, winning all the 29 seats in the state.

Kamal Nath pointed out that the BJP gave the slogan of “400 paar” (more than 400 seats), but the saffron party ended up winning in just 240 constituencies.

“Our alliance’s performance was good. Modi ji (Prime Minister Narendra Modi) used to say 400 paar, but (BJP) won just 240 seats. On the contrary, we (INDIA bloc) have got a good number of seats (234) and it will give a new direction to politics in the days to come,” the Congress veteran told reporters after meeting party workers at a hotel in Chhindwara, his home district.

Asked about possibilities of the INDIA bloc forming a government at the Centre, he said at present their (NDA) alliance is in power, but if the situation changes such an opportunity can be explored.

Kamal Nath said he was being called to New Delhi by the Congress leadership after the Lok Sabha poll results, but he told them he will first go to Chhindwara to meet people who stood by him all these years and then only will travel to the national capital.

Earlier, addressing party workers, the former CM said the people of Chhindwara have given him a “farewell” and he has accepted it.

The former Union minister maintained he shares a 45-year-long relationship with the people of Chhindwara and said there was a need to do a “post-mortem” of the poll defeat in his home turf.

He asked party workers to find out reasons behind this defeat and tell him about the same.

Speaking on the occasion, Nakul Nath asserted he will not leave Chhindwara and said his party’s next aim was to win the assembly bypoll in Amarwada in the district.

In a major setback to the Congress and its stalwart Kaml Nath, BJP candidate Vivek Bunty Sahu defeated Nakul Nath from Chhindwara by a margin of 1,13,618 votes.

This is only the second time that the BJP has won the Chhindwara Lok Sabha seat, which has been represented by the senior Nath multiple times in the past.

The saffron party had managed to win Chhindwara, where polls are being held since 1952, for the first time 27 years ago when former chief minister and senior BJP leader Sunderlal Patwa defeated Kamal Nath in a 1997 by-election.