Scion gone: Jyotiraditya Scindia in royal robes | PTI
JYOTIRADITYA SCINDIA, THE Gwalior dynast, is not the first one from his family to rebel against the Congress over being ignored. His grandmother Vijaya Raje Scindia had supported a rebellion against the D.P. Mishra-led Congress government in Madhya Pradesh in 1967. She quit the Congress, joined the Bharatiya Jan Sangh and later co-founded the BJP.
In 1996, Jyotiraditya’s father, Madhavrao Scindia, rebelled and formed the Madhya Pradesh Vikas Congress, after being denied a Lok Sabha ticket by the Congress. His party, however, merged back with Congress in 1998 and Madhavrao remained with the Congress till his death in a plane crash in September 2001.
Now, with Jyotiraditya leaving the grand old party, history is repeating itself. The 49-year-old had joined the Congress when he was 31. He started his political career by winning the by-election to the Guna Lok Sabha seat that had been held by his father. A Harvard and Stanford alumnus, Jyotiraditya soon became a prominent leader at both state and national levels. He was elected to the Lok Sabha four times and held various Union cabinet portfolios.
He headed the election campaign committee of the Congress in Madhya Pradesh in the 2018 assembly elections. And, along with Kamal Nath as state president, he managed to cull out a thin win for the Congress.
But Kamal Nath became the chief minister and Jyotiraditya was left without any responsibility in the state. All through the 15 months of the Kamal Nath government, Jyotiraditya felt more and more sidelined. In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, he faced a shocking defeat in Guna.
His grandmother Vijaya Raje and father, Madhavrao.
Jyotiraditya and his supporters expected that the party leadership would make him president of the Madhya Pradesh Congress Committee. But that did not happen. As the All India Congress Committee dilly-dallied, Jyotiraditya grew restive. Many say that the tipping point was a dismissive statement by Kamal Nath in February. When he was asked about Jyotiraditya’s warning that he would take to the streets if the government did not keep its promises, Nath replied: “Toh utar jaye (Let him hit the streets).”
By joining the BJP, Jyotiraditya has ensured himself a Rajya Sabha seat and a berth in the Union cabinet; there will be plum portfolios for the MLAs supporting him, if the BJP makes a comeback in the state. Incidentally, 22 MLAs, including six ministers in Nath’s cabinet, have put in their papers immediately after Jyotiraditya’s resignation. A spate of resignations from Congress workers and office-bearers followed. “This step that he has taken is for the self-respect of the people of state, his supporters and himself,” said Pankaj Chaturvedi, former Congress spokesperson and a close confidante of Jyotiraditya.