Back during 2014 general elections, people of five villages in Chhindwara, Madhya Pradesh were rooting for NOTA. Reason being the people were angry with the Adani power plant coming up. The BJP-led state government and the sitting MP of Congress, Kamal Nath, were both rallying behind the power plant.
Businessman Gautam Adani’s Adani Pench Power Limited had planned to build a 1,320 MW power plant. It is believed that Kamal Nath is quite close to Adani. Hence it comes as a surprise to many that Rahul Gandhi, who has been a very vocal critic of Adani, chose Kamal Nath.
During the run-up to the 2014 general elections, Rahul Gandhi had trained his guns on Adani, accusing then Gujarat CM Narendra Modi of giving away land to Adani for Mundra port at throwaway prices. This, despite clarification from Adani that Modi never gave him any special favours. Moreover, part of the land was allotted to Adani by former Gujarat chief minister Shankarsinh Vaghela. Vaghela was a rebel BJP leader who formed the government as Rashtriya Janata Party leader with external support of Congress.
Rahul Gandhi had constantly played the ‘suit-boot ki sarkar’ card, accusing Modi of favouring businessmen. This while the new Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh Kamal Nath, who was then an MP and Union Minister from Chhindwara was reportedly personally involved in ensuring the Adani Power project goes on. In fact, Kamal Nath is believed to have helped Adani in his earlier days too. And it is also why it was reported that in 2014 general elections, it was not Kamal Nath but Mallika Kharge who was chosen for Congress.
As per reports, Kamal Nath also holds 8,500 shares in Adani Power Limited and 745 shares in Adani Port and Special Economic Zone Limited.
Hence, when Congress President Rahul Gandhi chooses Kamal Nath as the chief minister of Madhya Pradesh, it just shows his hypocrisy who speaks against ‘crony capitalists’ and then picks the man who is believed to be close to those whom he accuses of being crony capitalists.