Congress veteran Kamal Nath’s switchover to the BJP appears to have been aborted with the saffron party developing cold feet at the last moment, but the doors are open for his son Nakul, BJP sources said.

The BJP leadership that had looked all set to welcome Kamal Nath, hoping to inflict another body blow to the Congress, has suddenly fallen silent. Madhya Pradesh BJP president V.D. Sharma, who was the first to declare that Kamal Nath was “welcome” to join their party, has been avoiding questions about it.

Sources at the BJP headquarters said they had been told to be prepared for the joining of Kamal Nath along with his son on Saturday but something transpired at the last moment leading to the plan being cancelled. Though the real reason behind the Congress leader’s defection getting stalled is shrouded in mystery, a section of Sikh BJP leaders had openly flagged charges against Kamal Nath in the 1984 anti-Sikh riots, claiming he would never be welcomed by the saffron party.

Sections in the BJP said it was unlikely that the leadership did not take into account the anti-Sikh riot charges against Kamal Nath before giving the go-ahead to induct him. “The Sikh riot charges against Kamal Nath have been well known and so the reason could be something else. But now that the issue (of his alleged involvement in the anti-Sikh riots) has been flagged, inducting him in the party has become almost impossible,” a BJP leader said.

The BJP leaders are now using the anti-Sikh riots excuse and also Kamal Nath’s age (77) to claim that his son Nakul, the Lok Sabha MP from Chhindwara, and not him had been their target. “Kamal Nath has already reached retirement age. Our target is to win the Chhindwara seat represented by his son Nakul Nath,” a BJP leader from Madhya Pradesh said, adding that the son was welcome to join the BJP.

However, at a media address in Bhopal last Friday, Madhya Pradesh BJP chief Sharma had said that Kamal Nath was welcome to join the BJP if he was pained by the Congress’s boycott of the Ram temple consecration. “If these leaders have pain in their heart, then they should be given an opportunity. And the name you are taking (Kamal Nath), if in his heart he has such pain, then I think he is welcome,” Sharma had said in response to a question about Kamal Nath planning to join the BJP.

Party insiders said that Sharma wouldn’t have made the statement without getting a signal from the central leadership.

“Ask Kamal Nath ji,” Sharma on Monday said on being asked when the Congress leader would join.

Nakul, who had dropped Congress from his bio on X last Saturday, has not yet added back the party affiliation, indicating that he continues to be on the edge. BJP insiders claimed that he could switch in the days to come.