india

Updated: Mar 12, 2020 13:42 IST

Jyotiraditya Scindia’s exit from the Congress has led to some churn within the party, especially from the young brigade that is sending messages to the leadership on the top.

Unfortunate to see @JM_Scindia parting ways with @INCIndia. I wish things could have been resolved collaboratively within the party. — Sachin Pilot (@SachinPilot) March 11, 2020

Rajasthan Deputy Chief Minister Sachin Pilot is the latest to react to Scindia’s exit , calling it unfortunate. “Unfortunate to see @JM_Scindia parting ways with @INCIndia. I wish things could have been resolved collaboratively within the party,” he said on Twitter on Wednesday.

Another young Congress leader, Kuldeep Bishnoi from Haryana, had earlier said that party leadership should have done more to convince Scindia to stay.

.@JM_Scindia’s departure is a big blow to @INCIndia. He was a central pillar in the party & the leadership should’ve done more to convince him to stay. Like him, there are many other devoted INC leaders across the country who feel alienated, wasted & discontented. 1/2 https://t.co/oTLXuqTAui — Kuldeep Bishnoi (@bishnoikuldeep) March 10, 2020

“@JM_Scindia’s departure is a big blow to @INCIndia. He was a central pillar in the party & the leadership should’ve done more to convince him to stay. Like him, there are many other devoted INC leaders across the country who feel alienated, wasted & discontented. India’s oldest party needs to empower young leaders who have the capacity to work hard & resonate with the masses,” Bishnoi had tweeted on Tuesday, shortly after Scindia posted his resignation letter.

Scindia quit the Congress party after 18 years, blaming his decision on the inertia and denial mode it is living in. “Today’s Congress party is not the same as it used to be,” Scindia said as he jouined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Wednesday.

The Harvard and Stanford University-educated Scindia has been the Congress’ pillar of strength not just in Madhya Pradesh but in the Centre as well. He was one of its top assets in Parliament as well as the organisation.

During the UPA government, Scindia was inducted in the Union council of ministers first as the minister of state for communications and information technology in 2008. A year later, in the second UPA government, the young Scindia was given the charge of Commerce and Industry as the minister of state.

On October 28, 2012, Scindia was made the Union minister of state (independent charge) for power. Among the young Turks of the Congress, he was the first to be given an independent charge as a minister of state.

In Parliament, Rahul Gandhi, Scindia, Sachin Pilot, Milind Deora and Jitin Prasada were seen as a close-knit group that sat next to each other and often led the party’s attack against the political rivals. A fiery orator, Scindia was later made the chief whip of the party in the 16th Lok Sabha when Narendra Modi came to power at the Centre in 2014.