Former Union minister Jitin Prasada joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Wednesday, a move that comes on the back of his long-running differences with the Congress leadership.
The two-time parliamentarian was among the 23 leaders who triggered a flutter in the 136-year-old party, suggesting several organisational changes and calling for an “introspection” in a letter to Congress president Sonia Gandhi in August 2020.
The 47-year-old leader, who was the Congress’s top Brahmin face in UP, exits at a time the Congress is in meetings at its Delhi office to try and untangle a feud in Punjab, another state voting in 2022.
“I started feeling that I was in a party surrounded by politics. I started feeling that I was not able to contribute and work for the people. I wasn’t able to work for the benefit of the people,” Jitin Prasada said after accepting the BJP’s saffron scarf.
“BJP is the only real political party. It’s the only national party. Rest of the parties are regional. BJP and (Prime Minister Narendra) Modi only ones that can meet the challenges the country is facing now.”
Mr Prasada is the second high-profile former Rahul Gandhi aide to defect to the BJP after Jyotiraditya Scindia left last year. Soon after his exit, there was speculation that another prominent “rebel”, Rajasthan leader Sachin Pilot, may also be on his way out.