Lucknow: Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister-designate Kamal Nath, who helped the Congress get the reins of MP after a 15-year rule by the BJP, has a very strong UP connect. Not only was Nath born and brought up in the Kanpur district of Uttar Pradesh, the city played a huge important role in shaping him as a politician.
Kamal Nath was born in the Khalasi lines area of Kanpur in a business family in 1946 and his father Mahendra Nath wanted him to become a lawyer. Speaking to media, Nath’s school firend RK Awasthi said, “It is a matter of great pride for all of us who have known him since schooling days and now he (Kamal Nath) is being chosen as the Chief Minister of one of the biggest states in the country.”
The family of Nath who is today known for his wealth of experience, banked wisdom and goodwill in Madhya Pradesh, had migrated from Kanpur to Kolkata first and then to MP. Nath is also seen as a family loyalist ever since he was inducted by late Congress leader Sanjay Gandhi in the 1970s. His role in the Emergency led to the slogan, ‘Indira ke do haath, Sanjay Gandhi aur Kamal Nath’. He was among leaders who strongly urged Rahul Gandhi to take over as the Congress president.
While in Kanpur, he went to DAV college and studied law from DC College of Law in the city’s civil lines area. It was here that Nath decided to join the Youth Congress. According to city Congress chief Har Prakash Agnihotri, “Nath was always an active leader in the local Congress headquarters and was seen as a good student leader and later a seasoned politician. Elevating him to post the CM will definitely help the Congress regain its lost grounds in MP.”
Nath has another strong connection with Uttar Pradesh: his wife Alka hails from the Saharanpur district. Her nephew is the current BJP MP from Saharanpur district in Western UP.
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