How Scindia Went Saffron - The Inside Story

Jyotiraditya decided to join BJP after being sidelined in MP, ‘ignored’ by Gandhis; Digvijaya & other Cong leaders deny it

- Mausami Singh

A day after quitting Congress, Jyotiraditya Scindia joined BJP in the presence of party president JP Nadda on Wednesday, putting a stop to months of speculation.

The shock switch and a flurry of resignations by his loyal MLAs plunged into uncertainty the Congress government’s fate in Madhya Pradesh.

The Grand Old party tried to put up a brave front and many of its leaders took a dig at Scindia for “putting himself before the party that had done so much for him.”

But, beyond headlines and public posturing, the mood within the party was of resignation and despair.

While the writing had been on the wall, little had party leaders imagined that the former Union minister who enjoyed tremendous clout and also proximity to the Gandhi family would actually bite the bullet.

THE BUILD-UP

The chain of events leading up to the final goodbye had started right after the MP Assembly elections in December 2018.

Scindia's Range Rover quietly drove to then Congress president Rahul Gandhi's residence. Scindia was conveyed that the party had decided to make Kamal Nath the Chief Minister and promised him the state president’s post.

Not known to be much of a bargainer or a noise-maker, he accepted the decision gracefully.

“Since then his supporters felt that the party leadership chose Kamal Nath over Scindia fearing he would outshine Rahul as both were of the same age group. It had happened with his father Madhavrao Scindia too and now history was repeating itself. This had lingered on with him,” said a senior Congress leader.