MP BJP blames Kamal Nath for 'favouring' China; burns effigies

Amid India-China standoff, the BJP in Madhya Pradesh on Sunday accused senior Congress leader Kamal Nath of favouring the neighbouring country during his tenure as the Union minister under the UPA government.

Leaders and workers of the saffron party on Sunday held protests against Nath in parts of the state, wherein they burnt his effigies alleging that he had reduced the import duties on 250 items manufactured in China when he was the Commerce and Industries Minister.

However, the Congress hit back saying that the BJP was targeting Nath as the party-led government cannot fight China.

"Nath ji, as commerce and industries minister, reduced the import duties on 250 items manufactured in China," MP BJP president V D Sharma, who led the protest in Bhopal, said.

"In connivance with China, he gave exemptions ranging from 40 to 200 per cent in import duty on the products that were also available in our own country," he added.

Another BJP leader said, "As part of the protest, we burnt Kamal Nath's effigies in around 1,000 places in the state," a BJP leader said.

He claimed that the protest was the party's way of expressing anger against the former Madhya Pradesh chief minister. MP Congress spokesman Bhupendra Gupta said the BJP was targeting the Congress and Nath as their government cannot fight China and push back its soldiers, "who have occupied India's territory".

"They are targeting Nath as they know that under his leadership, the Congress is going to win the by-elections to 24 assembly seats and bounce back to power in the state," he added.

"Nath is an honest politician, who put the country first," he said, alleging that the ruling BJP has ruined the country in the last six years. Meanwhile, a Congress leader said that the party was planning to hold a statewide protest against the BJP.

Addressing a virtual rally of BJP workers of Chhattisgarh from Bhopal on Sunday, Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan also dubbed Kamal Nath as "Kalank Nath" (disgrace), saying he had favoured China by his actions as Union commerce minister in the erstwhile UPA government.