Jyotiraditya Scindia Joins BJP, To File For Rajya Sabha Nomination On Friday

A day after resigning from the Congress, Jyotiraditya Scindia joined the Bharatiya Janata Party that counts his grandmother as one of its founding members.

“He is joining his family and we welcome him,” BJP President JP Nadda said at a press conference organised to announce Scindia’s induction into the saffron party.

Thanking Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah and Nadda, Scindia said they have given him the platform to serve the people. He said he was “pained” and “distressed” for not being able to serve people while working in the Congress, adding that the grand old party is living in denial and a far cry from its heydays.

Scindia will file his nomination papers for the March 26 Rajya Sabha polls from Madhya Pradesh on Friday, said a BJP spokesperson. Earlier in the day, the BJP named Scindia as its Rajya Sabha candidate from Madhya Pradesh, where three seats are falling vacant, soon after he joined the party.

Hailing Modi for his leadership, Scindia said the country's future is secure in his hands.

Talking of Madhya Pradesh, Scindia said the dream that he saw with his former party colleagues for the state was shattered in the last 18 months.

According to sources, the BJP is likely to name him as one of its candidates for Rajya Sabha elections in Madhya Pradesh on March 26. It is also confident of forming the next government in the state as 22 Congress MLAs, including Scindia's supporters, have resigned from the state assembly.

The Chief Minister Kamal Nath-led Congress dispensation is now in minority.

Peeved with his marginalisation in the Congress, Scindia met Shah at his residence in New Delhi. The duo then drove to 7, Lok Kalyan Marg—the prime minister’s residence—and held a more than an hour-long meeting with Modi.

Soon after the meeting ended, Scindia made public his resignation letter to Congress President Sonia Gandhi, saying that it was now time for him to move on.

A four-time Member of Parliament, Scindia got elected from Guna, Madhya Pradesh, in 2002 after winning a by-election necessitated by the demise of his father Madhavrao Scindia. He was only 31 years old at that time.

He became the Minister of State for Communications and IT in 2007 in the first United Progressive Alliance government. In 2009, he became Minister of State for Commerce and Industry and in 2012 was appointed Minister of State for Power during UPA-2.

After the Congress lost the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, Sonia Gandhi named him the party's chief whip in the lower house of the Parliament