In father Kamal Nath’s big shadow, amid Congress exodus, heli-hopping Nakul tries to cover slippery ground

The villagers of Bhalpani in Madhya Pradesh’s Chhindwara district look to the sky for signs of their MP Nakul Nath, son of Congress veteran and ex-chief minister Kamal Nath. The whirring of the helicopter announces his arrival as Nakul lands in the sleepy hamlet comprising mud-brick houses.

Dressed casually in a white shirt and jeans, Nakul, 49, maintains a stoic demeanour as he approaches the podium, accepting garlands from his supporters but refusing to wear them. He nods silently as the Congress workers whisper updates, betraying some tension before waving organisers to hasten the proceeding.

Nakul seems to be in a hurry. He has much ground to cover.

This is going to be Nakul’s toughest election, as the ruling BJP has put its full might to wrest Kamal Nath’s stronghold, weaning away a legion of the Congress leaders and Nath loyalists in the constituency.

Chhindwara has remained firmly with Kamal Nath, who has won the seat nine times since 1980. In the 2019 polls, the BJP bagged 28 seats out of the state’s 29, but missed out on picking Chhindwara, where Nakul beat the BJP’s candidate by 37,536 votes to emerge as the lone Congress MP in the state.

This time, the BJP has pitted against Nakul its district president Vivek Bunty Sahu, who claims to be “Chhindwara’s real son” and paints Nakul as an “outsider dynast”.

The BJP has claimed to have inducted over 2,000 Congress leaders and workers in Chhindwara, including Amarwara’s tribal MLA Kamlesh Pratap Shah, mayor Vikram Ahake and several councillors.

On his campaign trail, when asked if he was nervous over the exodus of leaders from his camp, Nakul told The Indian Express: “Absolutely not. The people are still with us. There will be no damage because of this. I have the full