NEW DELHI: Congress chief Jitin Prasada joined the BJP on Wednesday, in a shot in the arm for the saffron occasion because it prepares for the upcoming meeting elections in Uttar Pradesh scheduled for early subsequent yr.
Jitin Prasada joined the BJP in presence of Union Minister Piyush Goyal and its chief spokesperson Anil Baluni. Speculation was rife even through the 2019 Lok Sabha elections about Prasada becoming a member of the BJP, nevertheless it is believed that the Congress management had then managed to persuade him in opposition to quitting the occasion.
Prasada advised reporters after becoming a member of the BJP that it was “truly the only national party” that labored in an institutional means, whereas others have been all about just a few people or confined to particular areas. 47-year-old former Congress chief additionally hailed Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his management of the nation and likewise lauded different senior occasion leaders.
“If there is any political party or a leader standing for the interests of the nation today, given the situation that our country is going through, it is BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi,” Jitin Prasada stated after becoming a member of the saffron occasion.
Noting that politics is for public service, Prasada stated he realised that he can not do it in Congress and will not protect people’s interests.
“I felt that what is the relevance of staying in a party if you can’t protect interests of your people or work for them. I felt I was unable to do that at Congress. I thank people in Congress who blessed me all these yrs but now I’ll work as a dedicated BJP worker,” Prasada stated whereas addressing a press convention.
I felt that what is the relevance of staying in a celebration if you cannot protect interests of your people or work for them. I felt I used to be unable to try this at Congress. I thank people in Congress who blessed me all these yrs however now I’ll work as a devoted BJP employee: Jitin Prasada pic.twitter.com/7qNJk26B4e
— ANI (@ANI) June 9, 2021
Jitin Prasada, nevertheless, thanked the Congress leaders for guiding and mentoring him in all these years. “I have a three-generation connection with Congress, so I took this important decision after a lot of deliberation. In the last 8-10 years I have felt that if there is one party that is truly national, it is BJP. Other parties are just regional but this is a national party,” Prasada stated.
Welcoming him in the occasion fold, Goyal heaped reward on him, lauding him as a frontrunner of the stature whose induction will increase the BJP. It can even assist him in serving society, the Union Minister added.
The 47-year-old Prasada, a former Union minister, comes from a widely known Brahmin household of Uttar Pradesh and was serving because the Congress chief in cost of West Bengal earlier than becoming a member of the BJP. His father Jitendra Prasada was a famous Congress chief.
His father Jitendra Prasada, a distinguished `Brahmin` face in Uttar Pradesh, had challenged Sonia Gandhi`s management in 1999 and had contested in opposition to her for the put up of occasion chief. He died in 2002.
With the Congress in dire straits in Uttar Pradesh and he himself shedding the Lok Sabha polls twice in a row, Prasada’s resolution to be a part of the BJP might assist him politically at a time when the saffron occasion is working additional time to increase its ranks in preparation for the meeting polls.
It can even assist the BJP maintain Brahmins, a bit of whom are stated to be sad with the occasion in Uttar Pradesh, in good humour in the politically necessary state of India, occasion sources stated.
The saffron occasion believes that Prasada becoming a member of BJP will assist it pacify Brahmins in Uttar Pradesh, the place the Assembly ballot will likely be held early subsequent yr. A celebration insider stated that Prasada might be projected because the Brahmin face of the occasion which is fully lacking in Uttar Pradesh.
Prasada, as soon as shut to Rahul Gandhi, was half of Group-23 (G-23) signatories who had written to Congress interim president Sonia Gandhi demanding sweeping reforms in the occasion. Despite being a dissenter, he was tasked with the Congress marketing campaign in West Bengal, which turned out to be a disappointment.
Taking a stand in opposition to the occasion, he opposed Congress` alliance with the Indian Secular Front (ISF) in West Bengal. Prasada was elevated to the rank of secretary in the Indian Youth Congress in 2001 for the primary time. In 2004, he tried his luck in the 14th Lok Sabha elections from his house seat Shahjahanpur and gained. He was appointed Union minister of state, metal, in 2008.
In 2009, Prasada contested the fifteenth Lok Sabha elections from Dhaurahara and gained by 184,509 votes. He has been the Union Minister of State in the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways from 2009 to January 2011, Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas from January 2011 to October 2012 and Ministry of Human Resource Development from October 2012 to May 2014.
(With Agemy Inputs)
