Amid Rumours Of Kamal Nath, Manish Tewari To Quit Congress?

Amid rumours of former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Kamal Nath quitting Congress, speculations are doing rounds now that another Congress leader is set to bid goodbye to the grand old party.

Tewari is in touch with the BJP, India Today reported citing sources. However, his office has denied the speculations in a statement.

"The speculation that he will join the BJP is baseless and unfounded. Manish Tewari is in his constituency and looking after development work there. Last night, he stayed at a Congress worker's home," the Congress MP's office added.

Lawyer-turned-politician Manish Tewari currently represents Anandpur Sahib Lok Sabha constituency. in the 17th Lok Sabha. He was Minister of Information and Broadcasting from 2012 to 2014 and a Member of Parliament from Ludhiana from 2009 to 2014.

It may be recalled that he was part of the 'G-23' group, dissenters within the party who had demanded organisational changes in the party.

Notably, Ghulam Nabi Azad and Kapil Sibal, who were not happy with the high command and were part of the dissenters' group, have already left the party.

On the other hand, there are rumours which claim that senior Congress leader Kamal Nath with his son Nakul Nath are considering joining the BJP.

Kamal Nath is said to be disgruntled over not getting a Rajya Sabha berth and also Rahul Gandhi has been 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.

However, senior party leader Digvijay Singh has denied speculations. He said, "I had a conversation with Kamal Nath ji last night. He is in Chhindwara. He is the person who started his political career with the Nehru-Gandhi family...You cannot expect that person to leave Sonia Gandhi and Indira Gandhi's families."