Bhopal, Oct 31 Congress veteran and Madhya Pradesh's former Chief Minister Kamal Nath paid tributes to former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi on her death anniversary on Thursday, saying that her demise was the most difficult time of his life.
He remembered India's ever-first woman Prime Minister and said her courageous steps for strengthening the country were recognised globally at that time.
"Indira Gandhi's eternal journey has been the most difficult and unbearably painful time of my life. I pay my heartfelt tributes to Indira Gandhi ji on her death anniversary, who gave her all for the unity and integrity of the country," Kamal Nath said in a statement.
Two-time former PM Indira Gandhi was assassinated by two of her bodyguards on October 31, 1984.
Kamal Nath, a close friend of Indira’s younger son Sanjay Gandhi since the Doon School-Dehradun days, was sent to Chhindwara in Madhya Pradesh to contest the Lok Sabha election in 1980.
Addressing a public rally for the then 33-year-old debutant candidate Kamal Nath at Chhindwara’s Shukla Ground Stadium, former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi described him as her "third son".
Since then, Kamal Nath has been elected as Lok Sabha MP from Chhindwara nine times.
Chhindwara, a tribal populated district of Madhya Pradesh bordering Maharashtra's Nagpur became Kamal Nath's bastion.
In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, Kamal Nath's son Nakul Nath was the only Congress MP from Madhya Pradesh. However, in 2024, the BJP wrested the last Congress bastion from the state as it bagged all 29 Lok Sabha seats in the state.
The Gandhi family handed over MP Congress' command to Kamal Nath ahead of the Assembly elections in 2018, and the party returned to power in the state after a gap of 15 years.
However, the rift within the state unit of the party led to the collapse of the Kamal Nath-led Congress government in March 2020. The party contested the second Assembly election under Kamal Nath's leadership in 2023, however, it witnessed an embarrassing defeat against the BJP.
Following the defeat, Kamal Nath was replaced by Jitu Patwari as the new state president in January this year. However, in the new state committee formed recently, Kamal Nath and his son Nakul Nath were included in the political affairs committee
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