Former Congress leader Jyotiraditya Scindia joined the Bharatiya Janata Party yesterday and was immediately nominated by the ruling party for the Rajya Sabha from Madhya Pradesh.
Scindia is one the 11 BJP candidates nominated to the upper house of parliament.
The Madhya Pradesh politician whose surprise exit from the Congress has brought Chief Minister Kamal Nath’s government in the state to the brink of collapse, joined the BJP in the presence of party chief J P Nadda.
Addressing a press conference after he was inducted into the BJP, Scindia described March 10, the day he resigned from the Congress, as one of the two life-changing days of his life. The first, he said, was September 30, 2001 when he lost his father.
He said the Congress was not the party that it had been and had been living in denial.
Scindia listed out three key reasons for his leaving the Congress.
His first reason for being disillusioned with Congress was that the party does not encourage new leadership, a situation that he compared with inertia. Saying that the party does not even accept the problem, he targeted the party’s old guard, making it obvious that he meant Digvijaya Singh and Chief Minister Kamal Nath.
The second reason was corruption in Madhya Pradesh.
“Transfer industry is flourishing in Madhya Pradesh, where we had a dream after coming to power. Eighteen months on, that dream lies shattered, whether it was about waiving farmers’ loans or compensating farmers for the crop damaged due to natural reasons. Hundreds of farmers continue to face various court cases in Mandsaur,” he said.
The third reason for joining the BJP was the “able leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi”.
“India’s safety and security is safe in Modi-ji’s leadership,” he said.
Scindia’s exit from the Congress was followed by resignation of 22 legislators.
If the resignations are accepted, the effective strength of the state assembly will come down to 206, leaving the BJP with a slender majority beyond the halfway mark of 103 with its 107 lawmakers.
In Jaipur, Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot took a jibe at Scindia, calling him an “opportunist” and said it would have been better if he had left the party earlier.
Speaking to reporters, Gehlot said: “Had the opportunist gone earlier, it would have been better. The Congress gave him a lot in the last 17-18 years...he was given several posts and also made a union minister. But he showed his opportunist streak by deserting the party. The people will not forgive him.”
On Tuesday Gehlot accused Scindia of betraying the people of Madhya Pradesh.
Accusing the BJP of indulging in horse-trading, the chief minister said: “What has happened in Madhya Pradesh, it is a murder of democracy. The entire nation is watching... how shamelessly horse-trading is being done. In which direction are they taking the nation? They will definitely be taught a lesson by the people when the time comes.”
Gehlot said attempts were being made to threaten and intimidate with the worst kind of tactics being used. “Such brazen abuse of power has never been seen. The Congress party is united and we will together teach such leaders a lesson,” he said.
The chief minister said that the attempts to destabilise elected governments stemmed from BJP’s money power and horse-trading.
“They are not talking about any ideology. They want to grab power on the basis of huge amounts of money that they have hoarded,” he said, adding the biggest scam that is happening in the country was of electoral bonds.
Meanwhile the BJP’s outgoing Rajya Sabha member Prabhat Jha rubbished reports that he was upset with Scindia’s entry in BJP, calling them “baseless”.
Jha is a senior BJP leader from Madhya Pradesh.
“I have nothing to do with meaningless and baseless news. I condemn this mischievous news. No one can challenge my sincerity, ethics and party loyalty,” the party’s vice president tweeted.