Chhindwara, March 30: Old warhorse Kamal Nath is focusing on rural areas in the tribal-dominated Chhindwara parliamentary constituency that has seen him through to the Lok Sabha eight times since 1980.
Confident and unabashed, Nath’s campaign revolves around himself. In Chhindwara town, there are no posters, banners and hoardings that feature Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Sonia Gandhi or Rahul Gandhi.
Local residents say Nath, sensing the anti-UPA mood, is consciously avoiding the government’s performance as an issue for the April 10 contest.
However, in the rural parts of Chhindwara, Nath flaunts his proximity to the Nehru-Gandhi family and talks about cash subsidy, the rural job scheme (MGNREGA) and other welfare measures. Nath has reasons to be worried. In the recently held state elections in Madhya Pradesh, the Congress lost in four of the seven Assembly segments that fall under the Chhindwara parliamentary seat.
Even in Shikarpur, where Nath has a sprawling farmhouse with a helipad, the Congress had trailed by 8,416 votes in the November election.
The BJP has pitted former state minister Choudhury Chandrabhan Singh, the local MLA. Chandrabhan won the Chhindwara Assembly seat by a margin of 24,778 votes, defeating Deepak Saxena, a close confidant of Nath.
Chandrabhan is counting on Narendra Modi’s popularity to corner Nath. “Now people are questioning Kamal Nath about his long absence from the constituency. He (Nath) has failed to do anything concrete for the area. I can see the Modi wave all over the state and this time people are going to vote for change and betterment of the area,” Chandrabhan says.
Asked about the possibility of a setback, Nath appeared confident. “Here I am an issue. People relate to development with me. Voters have reposed faith in me time and again and 2014 is not going to be any different,” he says.
Nath is in charge of parliamentary affairs and urban development in the Manmohan Singh cabinet.
Nath’s wife Alka and son Nakul are campaigning for him. Nakul has taken charge of mobilising the youth and is often seeing sipping tea with young voters in Chhindwara town. “Here nobody relates tea with any chai-wallah,” he says with a wink. Alka was Chhindwara MP in 1996-97 when Nath had fielded her after his name had figured in the Jain hawala case. Relying on her experience, Alka holds meetings seeking votes for Nath. Nath owns assets worth over Rs 187 crore and has declared four social media accounts. He also recorded his personal email ID in his affidavit.
The 2014 affidavit filed before the returning officer in Chhindwara acknowledges movable assets worth over Rs 7.09 crore while his immovable assets total more than Rs 181 crore, including properties held through family-controlled companies and trusts.
