Former Union minister Jyotiraditya Scindia on Saturday said speculations regarding him leaving the Congress should be put to rest. Speaking to media persons in Gwalior, he said, “I am a worker of Congress, I am a soldier of Congress. I work on the ground.”
Scindia was reacting to a question on one his supporter MLAs saying if Scindia were to leave the Congress and form a new party, he would immediately follow Scindia. MLA Suresh Rathkheda's statement had come amidst the furore that followed last week after it was noticed that Scindia had changed his Twitter bio to 'Public servant. Cricket enthusiast'.
In another interesting development, Scindia and Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Kamal Nath travelled together from Gwalior to Morena in a helicopter on Saturday afternoon to attend the marriage ceremony in the family of Jaura Congress MLA Banwarilal Sharma.
Earlier, the two leaders had separate schedule to reach the marriage venue, but on Saturday they decided to meet in Gwalior and take a helicopter together to reach Morena at around 1pm. They, however, departed separately from the venue—the CM going to Gwalior to come back to Bhopal and Scindia leaving for Narwar in Shivpuri district and later proceeding to Gwalior.
Though it was not spelt out, the travel together sent out a public message that the two Congress stalwarts had no difference of opinion as was speculated time and again. Scindia's stream of letters to CM Nath, putting out issues and demands before him have been looked upon as an expression of the former's displeasure and the BJP has been making an issue out of this repeatedly.
Both Scindia and Nath have, however, repeatedly said such communication was part of working pattern.
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However, the latest flurry of speculations happened last week after the change in Scindia's Twitter bio was noticed. There were speculations that several of Scindia supporter MLAs had gone missing and that the former Union minister might leave the Congress party as he had dropped the mention of Congress from his Twitter bio.
Later, an upset Scindia had clarified that he had shortened his Twitter bio a month ago after suggestion of Congress workers and that the furore around it was 'ridiculous'.
The Kamal Nath-led Congress government in Madhya Pradesh is slated to complete a year on December 17 and all through the year, reports on differences between the top leaders, including the CM, Scindia and Digvijaya Singh, have been making rounds. The fact that a new MP Congress committee chief is yet to be announced, despite a big push by supporters of Scindia in his favour, remains a bone of contention. Nath continues to hold this post too.
Scindia condemns Pragya's remark
Meanwhile, Scindia also said Bhopal MP Pragya Thakur calling M.K. Gandhi's assassin Nathuram Godse a 'patriot' was “highly condemnable”. The Congress leader said this is not the first time that a BJP MP had called Godse a 'patriot' (referring to Sakshi Maharaj saying so in December 2014). “He had also apologised later. But repeated trend shows that this is mentality of the BJP and it is highly condemnable,” Scindia said.
