Amid BJP 'Switch' Rumours, Kamal Nath Congratulates Congress's Ashok Singh On Securing RS Seat From MP

Congress candidate Ashok Singh won the Rajya Sabha elections from Madhya Pradesh on Tuesday. Following his victory, former CM Kamal Nath congratulated him in a post on his social media account. He wrote, “Hearty congratulations to Mr. Ashok Singh, a loyal and struggling Congress member, on being elected as Rajya Sabha member from Madhya Pradesh.”

Congress Veteran Kamal Nath’s Rumoured Bid For Rajya Sabha

Notably, in a bid to assert his claim over the Rajya Sabha seat, Kamal Nath, the former Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh, hosted a dinner for senior Congress leaders and MLAs at his residence in Bhopal on February 13, aiming to demonstrate his political strength.

As per reports, Kamal Nath asserted that he had secured the backing of one-third of the MLAs in the state, based on which he was trying for the lone Rajya Sabha seat available for Congress. The former Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh also held discussions with Sonia Gandhi in Delhi regarding the matter.

Congress has 66 seats in the state assembly and thus could only send one MP even though five seats were getting vacated in Rajya Sabha on April 2. The sole Congress candidate for Rajya Sabha and state party treasurer Ashok Singh had filed for his nomination papers on February 15 for the Rajya Sabha elections in the state assembly in Bhopal.

He had reached the state assembly with a large number of party leaders including state party president Jitu Patwari, deputy LOP Hemant Katare, former union ministers Kantilal Bhuria and Arun Yadav, sitting MLAs Jaivardhan Singh Rathore, Nitendra Singh, and Arif Masood, among many other leaders.

Congress had nominated Ashok Singh, an OBC who won the Mandsaur LS seat and was a joint candidate of Kamal Nath, Digvijaya Singh, Jitu Patwari, and Umar Singhar.

Elections for 56 Rajya Sabha seats will be held on February 27 as the tenure of incumbents including BJP President JP Nadda and Former PM Manmohan Singh will end in April.