Jyotiraditya Scindia is one of the well-known faces included in PM Narendra Modi’s cabinet on Wednesday. Scindia, who has been in the role before, although as a Congress politician, will join 42 other politicians who have been inducted into the cabinet.
A reward for delivering Madhya Pradesh to BJP
In March 2020, Jyotiraditya Scindia resigned from Congress and joined BJP. Later, 22 MLA’s, who were loyal to Scindia resigned and Kamal Nath’s Congress government toppled. BJP came into power and Shivraj Singh Chouhan was made the Chief Minister of the State. While Scindia was given a Rajya Sabha seat, a few of his loyalists, most of whom won the by-elections later, were given a place in Chouhan’s state cabinet.
Scindia belongs to the former Royal Family of Gwalior
Educated at the Harvard and Stanford Institutions, Jyotiraditya Scindia was in Congress since 2002. He was part of the Union Cabinet for several years and held portfolios in departments such as the minister of state for communications, commerce and industry.
In the 2018 Assembly Elections in Madhya Pradesh, he was the Chairman of the Poll Campaign Committee. He was one of the main reasons why Congress came back to power after a period of 15 years. However, the CM’s seat went to Kamal Nath, which disappointed Scindia. His restlessness started then.
One comment by Kamal Nath triggered his collapse
A few days after he joined BJP, when asked about the reason, Scindia said, “When Nath asked me to hit the road and that was the final call.” The comment by Kamal Nath made headlines, and soon the rumours of Scindia joining BJP increased. This eventually led to the collapse of Kamal Nath’s Congress government.
