Kamal Nath revisits 2020 MP exit, points to Scindia-Digvijaya rift

Bhopal, Aug 25 (IANS) At a time when Rahul Gandhi is rallying newly elected district presidents -- particularly from Madhya Pradesh -- with pep talks and promises of revival, the old warhorses of the Congress party, Kamal Nath and Digvijaya Singh, are busy reopening old wounds.

Their recent statements have spilled fresh beans and pried open a can of worms, as they attempt to justify the dramatic collapse of the Congress government in Madhya Pradesh back in 2020.

Five years after the fall of the Congress-led government in Madhya Pradesh, former Chief Minister Kamal Nath has offered a candid reflection on the political rupture that reshaped the state’s power dynamics.

On Sunday, in a post on his X handle, Nath acknowledged that the collapse of his 15-month-old administration in March 2020 was not merely a result of personal ambition - but also stemmed from Jyotiraditya Scindia’s growing belief that Digvijaya Singh was the one truly steering the government.

“Recently, some statements have been made about the fall of the Congress government led by me in Madhya Pradesh in 2020,” Nath wrote (in Hindi).

“All I want to say is that there is no use in digging up old issues. But it is true that apart from personal ambition, Shri Jyotiraditya Scindia felt that Shri Digvijaya Singh was running the government. In this resentment, he broke the Congress MLAs and brought down our government.”

The post comes in the wake of renewed public discussion sparked by Digvijaya Singh himself, who, in a recent podcast interview, recounted a dinner meeting hosted by a prominent industrialist where Scindia allegedly handed Kamal Nath a list of unresolved issues concerning Gwalior and Chambal.

According to Singh, Nath’s failure to act on that list convinced Scindia that Singh was exercising disproportionate influence over the administration. The fallout was swift and historic.

In March 2020, Scindia defected to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), taking 22 Congress MLAs with him. The rebellion plunged the Congress into a minority and paved the way for the BJP’s return to power under Shivraj Singh Chouhan.

While Kamal Nath’s X post calls for closure, it also subtly reopens the debate over internal fault lines within the Congress -- particularly the uneasy triangle between Nath, Singh, and Scindia.

The former CM’s acknowledgement of Scindia’s resentment adds a new layer to the narrative, one that blends personality clashes with questions of leadership and legacy.

Political observers note that the timing of Nath’s statement is significant. With Madhya Pradesh heading into another election cycle, the Congress is once again grappling with questions of unity, strategy, and voter trust.

Whether this public reckoning helps the party heal old wounds or deepens internal divides remains to be seen.

For now, Kamal Nath’s post on X stands as both a confession and a caution -- reminding his party that ambition, perception, and unresolved grievances can be just as potent as ideology in shaping political outcomes.

--IANS

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