Kamal Nath's rise in MP: Congress has a lot riding on its safe choice

Recently named MP Congress chief, Nath is not considered a threat by the other two top party leaders of the state, Jyotiraditya Scindia and Digvijaya Singh

His sartorial preference is the safari suit, dark, if possible. But Kamal Nath will have to swap that for the kurta-pyjama. Earlier this week he was appointed state unit chief of the Congress in Madhya Pradesh. This means extensive interaction with the masses. On the other hand, Nath has already been there, done that. He is the longest-serving MP in the Lok Sabha and has been elected from his constituency, Chhindwara, nine times.

Nath is something of an aberration. He is in a party the top leaders of which still consider themselves socialist. At least three Congress cabinet ministers had objected to  FDI in retail. These included A K Antony, Vayalar Ravi and Nath. The first two represented the Left-leaning state of Kerala. Nath was the third.  Nath’s objection was not to the opening up of retail but that the government was not “doing enough to open up the sector”.  His view in the cabinet was that the government should not impose too many conditions and instead allow the states to frame their own guidelines. Eventually, that is what the government decided and the current Bharatiya Janata Party dispensation has continued with Nath’s position.

Nath has an extensive corporate and industrial empire but no scams or enquiries have been reported. He has crossed swords with most top Congress leaders — with P Chidambaram on the issue of SEZs; with Montek Singh Ahluwalia and his Planning Commission colleagues on the issue of ‘no exit’ roads and highways building contracts; and with the bureaucracy, generally including the PMO, on his handling of WTO negotiations when he was trade minister. Despite chatter, he stood staunchly by his bureaucracy and refused to give in to pressure and sanction investigation when the CBI knocked at the doors of some bureaucrats in the Roads and Highways ministry during his tenure. He is one minister who won praise from his ministers of state because he actually delegated work to them. His network spreads far and wide. And no one raises the allegation of his involvement in the 1984 anti-Sikh riots anymore.

Nath’s recent appointment is interesting. It is hard to imagine him as chief minister of Madhya Pradesh — he was not born there, he did not grow up there, he’s just represented the state in the legislature. So maybe he’s got the job because he is not considered a threat by the other two top leaders of the state, Jyotiraditya Scindia and Digvijaya Singh, who see each other as challengers. Parenthetically, the Congress seems to be adopting new instruments to accommodate factions. One of these is the creation of a Campaign Committee as a counterpoise to the PCC president. Scindia is Madhya Pradesh Campaign Committee chairman.

Whatever the reason, Nath will be under pressure to perform. It is one thing to win repeatedly from Chhindwara, quite another to devise strategies for all Madhya Pradesh. The Congress has high expectations from the state, and with the active support of Singh and the campaign strategies of Scindia, he could be a neutral captain of the team, just the man to take on Shivraj Singh Chouhan.