Saffron BJP gifts party ticket to Jyotiraditya Scindia
NEW DELHI : Jyotiraditya Scindia, who donned saffron after parting ways with the Congress on Wednesday, has been gifted BJP ticket for contesting the Rajya Sabha polls from Madhya Pradesh. Scindia joined the BJP on Wednesday in the presence of party president JP Nadda and others.
Scindia revolted against the Congress high command over party ticket in the forthcoming Rajya Sabha elections. As no top Congress leaders responded to Scindia’s willingness to fight the Rajya Sabha polls, he turned against his own party.
In his resignation letter, addressed to Sonia Gandhi and posted on Twitter, Scindia wrote: “While my aim and purpose remains the same as it has always been from the very beginning, to serve the people of my state and my country, I believe I am unable to do this anymore within this party.”
It may be mentioned that in 2016 as the chief whip of the Congress in the Lok Sabha during Narendra Modi’s first term, Scindia termed Sonia Gandhi as a “sherni” (lioness) who would make the BJP “repent” for targeting her.
Meanwhile, The BJP announced the names of its nine Rajya Sabha candidates today. The party has named Jyotiraditya Scindia as its Rajya Sabha candidate from Madhya Pradesh soon after he joined the party. The other candidates include former Congress leader Bhubaneswar Kalita from Assam. BJP has allotted two seats to its allies, including Dalit leader and Union Minister Ramdas Athawale from Maharashtra.
Jyotiraditya Scindia has been named by the BJP for one of the two Rajya Sabha seats from Madhya Pradesh due for elections later this month. The announcement came shortly after the 49-year-old four-time Lok Sabha MP joined the BJP. One of the reasons for his switch was said to be the promise of a Rajya Sabha nomination by the BJP, something that had proved to be a tough ask for him in the Congress.
Sources say a Rajya Sabha nomination for him was strongly opposed by Kamal Nath. By the time he came around, Mr Scindia’s talks with the BJP leadership, especially Amit Shah, had gone far. The BJP sensed an opportunity to pull in Mr Scindia when he was denied a Rajya Sabha seat by the Congress, according to sources. That was the time he received the first feelers from the BJP. There were several secret meetings over the next few months, according to sources.
