Jyotiraditya Scindia was on Wednesday named as one of the Rajya Sabha candidates for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Madhya Pradesh, moments after the rebel Congress leader ended his 18-year-long association with the grand old party and was formally inducted into the saffron camp.

The BJP announced the names of its nine Rajya Sabha candidates, including former Congress leader Bhubaneswar Kalita from Assam, and allotted two seats to its allies, including Dalit leader and Union minister Ramdas Athawale from Maharashtra.

The elections to the three Rajya Sabha seats which fell vacant in Madhya Pradesh will be conducted on March 26. With votes of first preference, the Congress and the BJP are expected to win one seat each for sure, while the contest is on for the third seat.

It was rumoured that Scindia was never going to be the first preference for the Congress in the elections to the Rajya Sabha seats. This, coupled with the fact that Congress central leadership chose veteran leader Kamal Nath over Scindia as Chief Minister of the state fueled rumours that there was a rift within Madhya Pradesh Congress. There were reports of alleged infighting and rumours that Scindia was feeling "ignored" within the grand old party.

Finally, the straw broke and Scindia switched sides over to the saffron camp on Wednesday.

After joining the BJP, Scindia also said that Congress is not serving the people of Madhya Pradesh. "I can say with confidence that the aim of public service is not being fulfilled by that party (Congress). Besides this, the present condition of the party indicates that it is not what it used to be," said the leader.

He had resigned from Congress on Tuesday after meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah and in Delhi. The meeting had fueled speculations that he will join the BJP and ultimately help the party topple the Congress government in Madhya Pradesh.

Notably, 22 Congress MLAs who are considered close to Scindia also submitted their resignations to the Madhya Pradesh governor Lalji Tandon.

Scindia posted his resignation letter on Twitter addressing Congress president Sonia Gandhi and wrote that it is time for him to "move on". Hinting at the growing tension within Congress, Scindia in his resignation letter said, "I am tendering my resignation from the primary membership of the Indian National Congress and as you well know, this is a path that has been drawing itself out over the last year."

According to reports, Scindia had been sulking for a long time as he was neither assured of a Rajya Sabha berth nor made the state Congress unit chief, a position that is still held by Chief Minister Kamal Nath.

Scindia had joined politics in the year 2001 after his father Madhavrao Jivajirao Scindia died in an air-crash. Scindia has been an MP from Guna until 2019 and he has a stronghold over this area. Scindia is also a sports enthusiast and he is also the chairman of the regional Madhya Pradesh Cricket Association (MPCA) in India.