G-23 rebel from Congress joins Uttar Pradesh BJP

JP Nadda with Jatin Prasada. Pic/PTI

Congress leader Jitin Prasada joined the BJP on Wednesday, in a boost to the saffron party as it works to strengthen its social coalition ahead of assembly elections in the politically crucial state of Uttar Pradesh early next year.

Joining the BJP Prasada told reporters that "if there was any political party in the country today that worked in an institutional way... if there was truly any national party in the country, then it was the BJP". Other parties were either about personalities or confined to some particular regions, he said, echoing the BJP's criticism of its rivals like the Congress and several regional parties.

Prasada, 47, was part of the group of 23 leaders who had written to Congress chief Sonia Gandhi last October seeking organisational overhaul and elections at all levels, triggering a storm in the party.

The former Union minister, who comes from a well-known Brahmin family of UP, refrained from attacking the Congress leadership but said he had realised that it was no longer possible for him to serve people and protect their interests while remaining in his former party. With the Congress in dire straits in UP and he himself losing Lok Sabha polls twice in a row besides an assembly election in between, Jitin is likely to be accommodated in the state BJP or CM Yogi Adityanath-led government. It will also help the BJP keep Brahmins, a section of whom are said to be unhappy with the party in UP, in good humour in the politically most important state of India, party sources said.

The development marks another high-profile exit of a relatively young leader from the Congress into the BJP. RS MP Jyotiraditya Scindia had joined the BJP last year. Once considered close to Rahul Gandhi, Sachin Pilot and Milind Deora have been reportedly unhappy with the state of affairs in their party, with some of them joining the BJP. Tamil Nadu leader Khushbu Sundar had also quit the Congress for the BJP.

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