In a massive setback for the Congress, Jyotiraditya Scindia quit the Congress, and in a coordinated rebellion on Tuesday, 22 MLAs loyal to him resigned in Madhya Pradesh, pushing the 15-month-old Kamal Nath government to the brink of collapse.
Denied what he considered was his due the post of Madhya Pradesh chief minister after the Congress won state elections in 2018—Scindia, a four-time former parliamentarian from Guna in Madhya Pradesh in his resignation letter wrote today's events had virtually been building up for a year.
Former Congress leader Pradyot Manikya Debbarma, a cousin of and Scindia erstwhile Tripura royal, attested to this when he, in a Facebook post, claimed that Congress leader Rahul Gandhi refused to grant appointment to Scindia for months.
He said it is sad to see "the party that we all thought will take India into the next decade is loosing all their young leaders."
Debbarma said he had spoken to Scindia on Monday night and the latter told him that he "waited and waited but there was no forthcoming appointments given to him by 'our' leader ."
"When I had resigned as the President of the Congress in Tripura I had said that the young guard feels 'orphaned' and let down after Rahul Gandhi abruptly quit as the President and left us in a lurch. Suddenly our views were sidelined and the 'Stalwarts' had started to disregard our policies on key issues," Debbarma, who resigned as Tripura Congress chief and quit the party a few months ago, wrote.
"In 2018 when BJP approached me my mother and I was told specifically by Scindia and Rahul that they would ensure that Congress would speak for the Indigenous people of Tripura and Northeast and I stayed back in the congress . Its two years since and Rahul has gone into hibernation, Scindia has quit the party and I am glad I stood up for what I thought was the RIGHT STAND for my people in the region which is neither BJP or Congress . What a tragedy to see the GRAND OLD Party become simply a OLD PARTY.........It is truly heartbreaking to see what is happening," he further wrote.
Debbarma told NDTV that he knows for a fact that Scindia was trying to meet Rahul Gandhi for months, but there was no appointments given.
(With PTI inputs)
