New Delhi:
A day after announcing his resignation from Congress, Jyotiraditya Scindia on Wednesday joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) inpresence of the ruling party's president JP Nadda. “There have been 2 life changing events for me – September 30, 2001- the day I lost my father and the second, march 10, 2020 - when I decided to choose a new path for my life,” Scindia said soon after joining the party. Taking a dig at Congress party, Scindia said, "I can say with confidence that the aim of public service is not being fulfilled by that party (Congress). Besides this, the present condition of the party indicates that it is not what it used to be."
Political instability continues to emerge from Madhya Pradesh where Jyotiraditya Scindia joining the BJP has plunged the state into chaos. The Kamal Nath government is on the brink of collapse as 22 Congress MLAs resigned from the Assembly.
Peeved with his marginalisation in the Congress, Scindia met Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Tuesday and then the two leaders went to the prime minister’s residence where they held talks for over an hour.
Soon after meeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the disgruntled Madhya Pradesh Congress leader tendered his resignation to party president Sonia Gandhi saying it was time for him to move on.
Scindia took the decision to sever his ties with the Congress on the day of his father Madhavrao Scindia’s 75th birth anniversary.
Scindia, four-time MP, first got elected from Guna in Madhya Pradesh in 2002 after winning a by-election necessitated by his father’s demise. He was only 31 years old at that time.
He gradually made his way up the Congress ladder becoming Minister of State for Communications and IT in 2007 during the Congress-led UPA-1. In 2009, he became Minister of State for Commerce and Industry and in 2012 was appointed Minister of State for Power during UPA-2.
After the Congress lost the 2014 General Election, Sonia Gandhi named him the party’s chief whip in the Lok Sabha.
He is expected to be nominated by the BJP for Rajya Sabha from Madhya Pradesh.
Scindia is likely to be sent to the Rajya Sabha and he may get a berth in the Union cabinet if his rebellion against the Congress leads to the collapse of the Madhya Pradesh government, as the BJP assumes.
(With PTI Inputs)
