‘Cong is not what it used to be’: Scindia joins BJP

... I can say that the aim of jan seva (public service) cannot be accomplished by being in the other party (Congress)… So, I took this decision to be a part of the country’s progress

JYOTIRADITYA SCINDIA, BJP leader

NEW DELHI: Former Union minister, four-time parliamentarian, a pillar of the Congress’s younger generation of leaders and a key figure in Madhya Pradesh (MP) politics, Jyotiraditya Scindia, joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Wednesday, a day after his sudden resignation from the Congress party brought the Kamal Nath-led government in MP precariously close to a collapse.

Flanked by BJP chief JP Nadda, who welcomed him effusively, Union minister Dharmendra Pradhan and a host of senior party leaders, Scindia said his decision was borne out of his pain at being unable to serve the people while being in the Congress. He also lashed out at the grand old party for being in denial and said it is not the same party that it used to be, and praised the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Just hours after his entry, the BJP nominated Scindia as the party candidate for the Rajya Sabha elections from MP. Three seats for the upper house fall vacant in the state.

“I always believed that our aim should be jan seva (public service) and politics should be a medium for that. But I can say that the aim of jan seva cannot be accomplished by being in the other party (Congress). The Congress is not what it used to be…so, I took this decision to be a part of the country’s progress,” he said.

Pointing out that no government has got the mandate from people like PM Modi, he praised the PM for his development

schemes, effective delivery of these schemes, reforms centred around “Vikas” and his commitment to the nation’s security. ”The country is completely secure in the hands of PM Modi.”

Scindia, who thanked PM Modi, home minister Amit Shah and Nadda for welcoming him in the family and giving him a platform, described March 10, the day that he exited from the Congress, as one of the two lifechanging days of his life. The first, he said, was September 30, 2001 when he lost his father. Scindia underscored that the Congress was not the party that it had been and had been living in denial.

Welcoming him to the party fold, Nadda recalled the role Jyotiraditya’s grandmother Rajmata Vijaya Raje Scindia played in the early years of the Jana Sangh, the precursor of the BJP, and in helping disseminate its ideology across the country. “He is joining his family and we welcome him,” Nadda said, adding that Scindia will have a larger role to play in the party. He also took a jibe at the Congress by saying that BJP is a democratic party where every individual has a say.

“BJP is the rightful instrument for changing the destiny of the country,” Nadda said.