After Kamal Nath, Congress MP Manish Tiwari in touch with BJP

According to sources cited by India Today, senior Congress leader Manish Tewari sparked speculations about joining the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), just a day after rumors surfaced about former Madhya Pradesh CM joining BJP ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.

There is widespread speculation that former Madhya Pradesh Congress chief Kamal Nath might leave the Congress and switch to the BJP. He arrived in Delhi on Saturday, reportedly to meet with the BJP leadership.

Numerous reports suggest that the former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister could be dissatisfied with the Congress leadership. NDTV quoted sources on Saturday as saying, "Kamal Nath has conveyed his unhappiness to the Congress leadership."

A close aide of Kamal Nath, Sajjan Singh Verma, stated that when a "big politician" decides to sever ties with his organization, "all three factors work behind it." He elaborated that these factors in politics are "maan, apmaan, and swabhimaan" (respect, insult, and self-respect).

Regarding Kamal Nath's dissatisfaction, Sajjan Singh told news agency ANI, "When these factors are hurt, a person changes his decisions...When such a top politician who has done a lot for Congress and the nation in the last 45 years, thinks of moving away from his party, then all three factors work behind it."

"A person who dedicated 45 years to Congress, if somewhere we are not able to respect that person, then it is the weakness of that political party. That's why a person is free to take his own decision," he added.

There are speculations that Kamal Nath might also be "unhappy" over not being nominated for the Rajya Sabha elections this year. However, sources told NDTV that this wasn't true. They were quoted as saying that the former chief minister had pushed for Ashok Singh's nomination from Madhya Pradesh and did not want Meenakshi Natarajan to be nominated. Natarajan was reportedly Congress leader Rahul Gandhi's pick for the Upper House.

Kamal Nath was replaced by Jitu Patwari as the president of the Madhya Pradesh Congress Committee in December last year. This occurred shortly after the Congress faced defeat in the Madhya Pradesh Assembly Election 2023.

In the 2023 state election, the BJP retained power in Madhya Pradesh after winning 163 of the total 230 assembly seats, while the Congress won 66 seats and the Bharat Adivasi Party bagged one seat.