Nov 1, 1999

Kamal Nath, 53
Congress MP

WILY SURVIVOR
After the rout of Indira Gandhi in the 1977 election, her son Sanjay rustled up an army of stormtroopers who helped her snatch power back three years later from the Janata Party. Of this "Sanjay brigade", nobody has made a better mark than Kamal Nath as a survivor in electoral politics. From Chhindwara in Madhya Pradesh, he has won five of the six Lok Sabha elections he contested. In 1996, when the Congress did not field him, he got his wife elected. Few in the Congress has such an unbroken record in electoral politics. His invincibility in elections combined with an innate ability to deal and work political equations has made him a power player in the Congress. If there is dynasty in Congress, Kamal Nath will feature in it. Equally, if Congress is able to rid itself of dynasty, he is likely to feature in that version as well. It is almost certain that Kamal Nath, a businessman-turned-politician will make his way into the top policy-making bodies of the party in the round of reorganisation following the recent elections. And if the Congress can reinvigorate itself in the future to form a government at the Centre, Kamal Nath will be one of its most powerful members.

-Sumit Mitra

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