Jyotiraditya Scindia quits Congress and joins BJP! Here is what you should know about his political career

Team Udayavani, Mar 11, 2020, 5:35 PM IST

New Delhi: Kamal Nath government suffered a major setback in Madhya Pradesh as Jyotiraditya Scindia ended his 18-year association with Congress and joined BJP. Along with Scindia, 22 MLA’s have resigned from the party.

The four-time MP from Guna, Jyotiraditya Scindia served as a minister in both UPA governments.

Jyotiraditya Scindia was born in the family of Royals of Gwalior. He did his schooling from Doon School, Dehradun and then completed his BA in Economics from Harvard University in 1993 and pursued MBA from Stanford University in 2001.

Scindia joined Indian National Congress in 2001 after the death of his father MP Madhavrao Scindia, who was sitting MP in Guna constituency, in an airplane crash.

Later in 2002, he filed his nomination paper to contest the upcoming election from Guna constituency and won. He was re-elected in May 2004 and was appointed as Minister of State for communications and Information Technology. In 2009 Scindia was re-elected for third consecutive time and became Minister of State for commerce and Industry. In 2012, he was appointed as Minister of State for power.

It is said that Jyotiraditya Scindia was a confidant of party leader Rahul Gandhi. In fact, He was handpicked by the party for its revival in the crucial state of Uttar Pradesh. He was given the responsibility of Western Uttar Pradesh.

Intrestingly, Scindia was the chairman of the campaign committee in the previous Madhya Pradesh polls and played a major role in dislodging the BJP from power after 15 years.

But problems started when Scindia’s loyalists wanted him to be the Chief Minister, but the Congress decided to give the post to Kamal Nath.

It is said that Scindia wanted to become the Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh but as he was not given the post, he began expressing his dissatisfaction for the past few months.

The Congress party experienced political turmoil after Scindia’s resignation. He resigned from the party by giving his resignation to interim chief Sonia Gandhi on March 10, stating that it was time to make a fresh start. On March 11, Scindia joined Bharatiya Janata Party.