Jyotiraditya Scindia joins BJP

Long-time Congress leader Jyotiraditya Scindia crossed over to the BJP on Wednesday, leaving the Madhya Pradesh government tottering precariously and both parties scrambling to send their legislators far away from the state capital — and from the machinations of each other.

WhileMadhya Pradesh’s ruling Congress, pushed to the brink of collapse after theresignation of 22 legislators close to Scindia, herded about 90 of itslegislators to resorts near Jaipur, the state’s opposition BJP sent its MLAs toa luxury hotel in Gurgaon.

   

And19 of those who resigned and whose letters were taken to the speaker by the BJPare secluded in a hotel in Bengaluru.

Asthe number crunching intensified and resort politics played out in ‘friendlystates’ – Rajasthan is ruled by the Congress and Haryana and Karnataka by theBJP – Scindia formally joined the BJP in the presence of party president J PNadda and said the country’s future is secure in the hands of Prime MinisterNarendra Modi.

Scindia,49, the proverbial centre of the political storm in Madhya Pradesh, belongs tothe erstwhile royal family of Gwalior and has family links with both theCongress and the BJP.

Whilehis father Madhavrao Scindia was in the Congress, his grandmother Vijaya RajeScindia was one of the founder members of the BJP and his aunts Yashodhara RajeScindia and Vasundhara Raje Scindia are active members of the saffron party.

CallingMadhya Pradesh a piece of his heart (‘dil ka bhag’), Scindia said at a pressconference with Nadda by his side his dream for the state had been shattered inthe last 18 months — when the Congress won the assembly elections and KamalNath became chief minister.

Welcominghim into the BJP, Nadda said he was “joining his family”.

“Thisis a joyous day for BJP and me personally. Today, I remember Rajmata Scindia…The entire family is with BJP,” former Madhya Pradesh chief minister andsenior BJP leader Shivraj Singh Chouhan said.

 Amid expectations that he will be the BJP’snominee from the state for the Rajya Sabha, Scindia said he is”pained” and “distressed” at not being able to serve thepeople and described the Congress as a party living in denial.

Theformer Union minister and four-time Congress MP, known to be close to RahulGandhi, said the party is not what it used to be.Hisresignation from the Congress along with MLAs “loyal” to him onTuesday has put a big question mark over the future of the Kamal Nath-ledgovernment, which came to power with a wafer-thin majority in the 230-memberassembly. The effective strength is now 228.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

three × 3 =