Jitin Prasada has made a change that has been expected for some time. Jitin Prasada joined the party in New Delhi on Wednesday after meeting with the Union’s Interior Minister and senior BJP leader Amit Shah.
Jitin Prasada, long regarded as one of the closest associates of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, had sulked within the party for being “ignored”. He has reportedly not been consulted in administering the affairs of Congress in Uttar Pradesh, his home state, and even in West Bengal, for which he was indicted last year.
JITIN PRASADA AND RAHUL GANDHI
Jitin Prasada made his election debut with Rahul Gandhi in 2004. Rahul Gandhi won Amethi’s Lok Sabha election while Jitin Prasada won the Shahjahanpur seat, which his father Jitendra Prasada had won four times.
Jitin Prasada became one of the youngest ministers in Manmohan Singh in 2008. Jitin Prasada won his second Lok Sabha election from Dhaurara in 2009 and took on various positions in Manmohan Singh’s second government.
Jitin Prasada is believed to have developed differences with the Gandhis over the 2017 assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh when Rahul Gandhi teamed up with Samajwadi party leader Akhilesh Yadav when Congress reversed its decision to contest the elections alone.
HOW JITIN PRASADA DRIFTED AWAY
His growing frustration with the leadership of Congress sparked speculation that Jitin Prasada might leave the party to join the BJP himself in 2019. Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and Jyotiraditya Scindia were then made responsible for the Lok Sabha elections together with Uttar Pradesh.
Jitin Prasada, a Brahmin face of Congress in Uttar Pradesh, had recently put the Gandhi in the spotlight with his occasional posers. He was a member of the G-23, the group of dissidents in Congress who called for extensive reforms in the party organization.
Jitin Prasada and the rest of the G-23 leaders called for an elected congressional president who shows “visible full-time leadership.” It was taken as a complaint against Rahul Gandhi, who resigned as Congress President after the party’s defeat in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.
While all G-23 leaders in Congress were receiving flak from Gandhi loyalists, Jitin Prasada was called for expulsion by the party’s Lakhimpur-Keiri district unit in Uttar Pradesh. A resolution was passed calling for his resignation from Congress.
However, Jitin Prasada was one of the G-23 leaders that Congress President Sonia Gandhi attempted to appease in a major reshuffle of the All India Congress Committee (AICC) in September 2020.
Jitin Prasada was appointed head of the West Bengal Congress and received a permanent place in the AICC. Jitin Prasada was previously a special guest at the AICC.
Bengali effect
Jitin Prasada was reportedly dissatisfied with the way the Congress leadership decided issues related to the recent election in Bengal. Lok Sabha MP Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury and Congress spokesman Randeep Surjewala reportedly had more weight than Jitin Prasada in deciding the Bengali affairs of Congress.
At least once, Jitin Prasada vented his frustration with a post on Twitter: “The decisions of the Alliance are made in the best interests of the party and the workers. Now is the time for everyone to join hands and work to bolster the prospects of Congress in the polling states. “
Jitin Prasada was not in favor of congressional affiliation with the Indian Secular Front, a political front run by the Islamic cleric Abbas Siddiqui. The prospect of being seen on the same side as a cleric’s party seemed to contradict his own campaign in Uttar Pradesh. He actively participated in the Brahma Chetna Samvad to mobilize the Brahmins’ voice bank in Uttar Pradesh.
TUSSLE THROUGH GENERATIONS
This quarrel between Prasadas and Gandhis is not new. Jitin Prasada’s father, Jitendra Prasada, served as a senior leader in Congress during his tenure after winning his first Lok Sabha election in 1971. He was once the political secretary of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, the father of Rahul Gandhi.
However, Jitendra Prasada fell out with the Gandhis after the death of Rajiv Gandhi. He called for Sonia Gandhi to be named President of the Congress. Jitendra Prasada ran in November 2000 in the presidential election of Congress against Sonia Gandhi. He lost the fight. However, the rivalry ended when Jitendra Prasada died of a cerebral haemorrhage in January 2001.
Interestingly, Jitendra Prasada was one of Rajiv Gandhi’s closest aides, along with Rajesh Pilot and Madhavrao Scindia. The political friendship lasted, at least for about two decades, into the next generation, with Jitin Prasada, Sachin Pilot, and Jyotiraditya Scindia being viewed as Rahul Gandhi’s closest aides.
Now Jitin Prasada and Jyotiraditya Scindia are allegedly with the BJP after being “ignored” by Rahul Gandhi. Sachin Pilot is reportedly sulking in the Rajasthan Congress, even after a patch brokered by Priyanka Gandhi last year.
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