Congress rattled as top leader Scindia joins BJP
■ BJP gives Jyotiraditya RS ticket; Nath battles to save govt
Days after he accused the BJP leadership of spreading hate politics in the wake of the Delhi violence, former Congress leader Jyotiraditya Scindia on Wednesday joined the saffron party. Considered close to Congress’ Rahul Gandhi, Mr Scindia quit the party on Tuesday after his 18year association with it, apparently over being sidelined within the Congress and also over the Rajya Sabha berth, for which he was officially named by the BJP as its candidate hours after he joined the saffron fold. Three seats are falling vacant in the Rajya Sabha from Madhya Pradesh by next month, and the Congress-ruled state has been facing a political crisis after Mr Scindia’s revolt and over 20 Congress MLAs, considered his loyalists, leaving for Bengaluru, ahead of the biennial polls to the Upper House of Parliament on March 26.
The BJP has also parked over 100 of its MLAs from the state at a resort in Manesar, near Gurgaon, amid reports of possible poaching by the Congress, which is trying hard to save its government in the state as the ongoing crisis has ignited the BJP’s hopes of returning to power.
A scion of the erstwhile Gwalior royal family, Mr Scindia thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union home minister Amit Shah and BJP president J.P. Nadda for “giving a place in their family” and criticised the Congress of ignoring reality.
“I would like to thank Prime Minister Narendra Modi, home minister Amit Shah and BJP president J.P. Nadda for giving me a place in their family... There are two very important dates in my life — September 30, 2001, when I lost my father... it was a lifechanging day for me. And the second date was March 10, 2020, the 75th birth anniversary of my father... I took a new decision on this day. I always believe in Jan Seva and politics is a way to accomplish that... My father tried to work for the country and the state when he was in the Congress. But in the situation that has been created today, I am not able to fulfil my target of working for the country. Today’s Congress is not
■ Continued from Page 1 the same as it used to be. The Congress ignores the reality... there is inertia," said Mr Scindia.
Mr Scindia joined the BJP at the party headquarters in the presence of its president J.P. Nadda, Union minister Dharmendra Pradhan, MP unit chief B.P. Singh, state in-charge Vinay Sahasrabuddhe and Rajya Sabha MP Arun Singh.
As Mr Scindia criticised his former party for suffering from “jadta” (inertia) and accused the Kamal Nath-led MP government of running a “transfer business” and of unfulfilled poll promises, Mr Gandhi tweeted a 2018 photograph of him with Mr Scindia and Mr Kamal Nath, with a quote from Leo Tolstoy:
“The two most powerful warriors are patience and time.” On allegations that Mr Scindia waited to meet him before he quit the Congress, Mr Gandhi was quoted by a news agency as saying: “He is the only chap in the Congress who could walk into my house anytime.”
Before tendering his resignation from the Congress' primary membership, Mr Scindia had met Prime Minister Narendra Modi along with former BJP president and Union home minister Amit Shah. Sources said a Union Cabinet minister was deputed by the BJP top brass to communicate with Mr Scindia after the former Union minister's non-political associates got in touch with the BJP leadership.
One of the BJP national spokesmen and a former banker, who got in touch with Mr Scindia when he was a Union minister in the UPA, also played a key role.
Mr Scindia’s exit from the Congress was plotted 14 months ago when the Congress returned to power in Madhya Pradesh in the November 2018 Assembly polls "ridding piggyback on his charisma”, ironically by his rival factional leaders in the MP Congress, if his loyalists in the party are to be believed.
Mr Scindia lost seat from Guna and was denied the PCC president’s post.