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Tag: Jyotiraditya Scindia

  • Jyotiraditya Scindia arrives in Delhi amid speculations of him getting cabinet berth

    By ANI
    NEW DELHI/ INDORE: Amid speculations of him getting a ministerial berth at the Centre, BJP MP Jyotiraditya Scindia reached Delhi on Tuesday evening. “I was on a visit to Ujjain. After completing my visit here, I am going to Delhi,” Scindia told reporters here at the Indore airport today.

    The much-anticipated Union Cabinet reshuffle is expected to take place on July 8, said sources on Tuesday.

    The buzz that was going on for quite some time intensified after a series of meetings between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah and BJP National President JP Nadda in the national capital.

    In March 2020, Scindia joined the Bharatiya Janata Party, after ending his 18-years-old association with the Congress party. Scindia’s resignation from the party triggered the resignation of 22 MLAs who are his loyalists and later led to the collapse of the Kamal Nath-led Congress government in Madhya Pradesh.

    Articulate and charismatic, Scindia was Minister of State for Communications and Information Technology in the UPA-I government. He was the Union Minister of State for Commerce and Industry in the UPA-II government between 2009 and 2012. Scindia was Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) of Power between 2012 and 2014.

    He was a strong critic of the Narendra Modi government in its first term and articulated his concerns in the Lok Sabha.

    Belonging to a political family, Scindia was first elected to Lok Sabha from Guna in 2002 after his father Madhavrao Scindia died in an aeroplane crash. Madhavrao Scindia was elected to the Lok Sabha in 1971 at the age of 26 and went on to win nine consecutive elections from the Gwalior and Guna constituencies.

    Jyotirdaditya Scindia suffered a shock defeat from Guna parliamentary seat in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.

  • Loyalists put MP Jyotiraditya Scindia in driver’s seat at home turf Gwalior

    By Express News Service
    BHOPAL: After plum portfolios in the Shivraj Singh Chouhan government, Rajya Sabha MP Jyotiraditya Scindia’s loyalists have been given control of districts of Gwalior-Chambal region in the CM’s nomination of ministers in-charge for all 52 districts in Madhya Pradesh late Wednesday late night.

    The Scindia loyalists, including Tulsi Silawat, Govind Singh Rajput, Mahendra Singh Sisodiya, Pradumn Singh Tomar and Suresh Dhakad, were made in-charge ministers of Gwalior, Bhind, Shivpuri, Ashok Nagar, Datia and Guna districts, all part of the Gwalior-Chambal region, which is considered Scindia’s family bastion.

    Union agriculture minister Narendra Singh Tomar’s loyalist Bharat Singh Kushwah, who was allocated Morena and Sheopur, was the only non-Scindia camp person to be handed over the charges of districts in the region. Both Morena and Sheopur districts are part of Tomar’s constituency.

    Another powerful politician from the same region, home minister Narottam Mishra was made in-charge minister of Indore while CM Chouhan’s loyalist and urban development and housing minister Bhupendra Singh was allocated Bhopal district. The other Scindia loyalists, Brijendra Singh Yadav, Prabhuram Chowdhary, Rajvardhan Singh Datigaon and OPS Bhadoria, were allocated Mandsaur, Alirajpur, Dhar, Shajapur, Dhar, Sehore, Damoh and Harda districts.

    Commenting on the appointments, Congress spokesperson Narendra Saluja said, “By rendering control of all the Gwalior-Chambal districts to Scindia loyalists, the CM has jolted his adversaries within the BJP, including Union minister Prahlad Patel and state BJP president VD Sharma.”

    Securing place in BJP’s inner circles​Currently, nine out of the 30 ministers in the MP government are Scindia loyalists, who hold plum portfolios. With this, the former Congressman has tightened his grip in the BJP.

  • Madhya Pradesh: 14 cops suspended for lapse in Jyotiraditya Scindia’s security

    By PTI
    GWALIOR: Authorities in Madhya Pradesh on Monday suspended 14 police personnel of two districts for lapse in the security of BJP Rajya Sabha MP Jyotiraditya Scindia during his visit to the state, a senior official said.

    The lapse in Scindia’s security occurred on Sunday night when he was on his way to Gwalior after arriving from Delhi.

    Gwalior Superintendent of Police Amit Sanghi told PTI that 14 police personnel – nine of Morena and five of Gwalior district – have been suspended for negligence in handling Scindia’s security.

    Sanghi said the former Union minister was to be escorted by the Morena Police on the Madhya Pradesh-Rajasthan border and later this task was to be done by their Gwalior counterparts.

    However, the Morena police escorted another vehicle which was similar to the one in which Scindia was travelling, the SP said.

    The Rajya Sabha MP entered Gwalior un-escorted as information about his movement was not shared by the Morena police with their Gwalior counterparts, he said.

    Following this lapse, action has been taken against the cops from two districts, Sanghi said.

  • Congress should change its name and go before people again, says BJP’s Jyotiraditya Scindia

    By PTI
    GWALIOR: BJP Rajya Sabha member Jyotiraditya Scindia on Monday advised the Congress, his former political party, to change its name and make fresh efforts to find a place in the heart of people.

    Scindia, who joined the BJP in March 2020, was responding to a question about the recent demand of Congress leaders to change the name of Gwalior, his home turf.

    “If there is so much interest in changing the name, then the Congress should first change the name of their party and again go to the public….make a place in the heart of people,” Scindia told reporters when asked about the opposition party’s demand.

    Some local Congress leaders had demanded that Gwalior be renamed as Maharani Laxmi Bai Nagar to honour the legendary queen.

    ALSO READ | Sonia Gandhi convenes meet on June 24 to discuss Congress’ plan to hold protests against Centre

    The demand was made on June 18, the martyrdom day of the freedom fighter, who had died in Gwalior.

    Scindia accused the Congress of indulging in politics even during a pandemic.

    “The Prime Minister has already said that the Congress is a party of namdars (dynasts), while BJP is an outfit of Kamdars (those who are known for their work),” he said.

    The former Union minister said Congress leaders initially opposed vaccination against COVID-19 and spread canard about it, but now they themselves are getting jabs.

    He informed that a 1,000-bed hospital will soon come up in Gwalior.

  • Jyotiraditya Scindia writes to Piyush Goyal to allot fund for Gwalior-Sheopur rail project

    By PTI
    BHOPAL: BJP Rajya Sabha member Jyotiraditya Scindia has written a letter to Railway Minister Piyush Goyal, saying a broad gauge rail project in Madhya Pradesh has been stalled as only Rs 25 crore were allotted for it in the last Railway Budget against the work cost of around Rs 3,000 crore.

    The work is related to the conversion of a rail line from narrow gauge to broad gauge in the Gwalior-Sheopur section, where train operations are closed since March 2020, the parliamentarian from MP pointed out in his letter dated June 19.

    “The Ministry of Railways had approved this project in FY 2012-13. The tender process has been completed. The project costs around Rs 3000 crore, but the work could not move forward as only Rs 25 crore were allotted for it in the last Railway Budget,” Scindia said.

    He said this rail track is the lifeline for lakhs of citizens of Gwalior, Morena and Sheopur districts and the closure of train operations has been creating problems for them.

    “Therefore, you are requested to kindly approve the necessary budget for the change of gauge, so that the work on the said railway section can be completed expeditiously and the operation of passenger trains can be resumed,” Scindia said.

  • Rajasthan bypolls: Eyeing royal link, BJP parachutes Jyoraditya Scindia as Raje keeps away from campaigning

    Express News Service
    JAIPUR: On his first trip to Rajasthan after quitting from the Congress to join the BJP, Jyotiraditya Scindia visited Gangapur in Sahada Assembly constituency on Sunday.

    The Scindia scion received a warm welcome with rose petals and garlands from the people of Gangapur in Bhilwara district where he is campaigning for the bypoll scheduled on April 17. 

    The BJP was keen on former Vasundhara Raje for campaigning in Sahada, which has a special connection with the Scindia family, and had also included her in its list of star campaigners.

    Since the former chief minister has decided to stay away citing her daughter-in-law’s health, the BJP replaced Raje with her nephew Jyotiraditya Scindia who held an election meeting in Gangapur on Sunday afternoon.

    The BJP wanted to get somebody from the Scindia family as it been associated with Sahada since princely times. Many villages in Sahada’s Gangapur region have an old relationship with the Scindias and were earlier under the Gwalior princely state. As a result, the Scindia family has an influence on people of this region.

    It is said that Gangabai, the daughter of the Mewar royal family was the daughter-in-law of Gwalior. Due to a rift between the two kings, Gangabai came to Udaipur to help reach an agreement. While returning, she died in Lalpura village and later Gangapur town was built in her name. There is also a Gangabai Chhatri and a temple. According to royal traditions of those times, the place where the last rites of a royal took place was given to that princely state. As a result, the Mewar royalty gave these villages to the princely state of Gwalior.

    The BJP is hoping that Jyotiraditya’s entry will attract votes in its favour due to the historical ties of his family with Gangapur. As he began campaigning, the Rajya Sabha MP launched a sharp attack on the Congress. “Our thinking is that even if we have to lose our life, we will live up to our promise. But the Congress thinks lets save our life, who cares if we have to break our promises,” he asserted. 

    Scindia praised the Modi government at the Centre which he claimed has a vision for development. He slammed the Ashok Gehlot government in the state and used the farmers issue to woo votes. “Under the Kisan Nidhi scheme, the Centre gives Rs 6000 to each farmer but the Gehlot government says what use is just Rs 6000. In Madhya Pradesh, we ensured an additional Rs 4000 through the Shivraj Singh-led BJP government. If Gehlot is so keen to help farmers, why doesn’t his government give such help to farmers,” he questioned.

    The Congress, however, remains unfazed and claims Scindia’s campaigning will be of no help for BJP candidate Ratan Lal Jat (73), a former minister. The Congress has given the ticket to Gayatri Devi, wife of late MLA Kailash Trivedi and hopes to win sympathy votes.

    When queried about Jyotiraditya Scindia visiting the Sahada Assembly constituency, Govind Singh Dotasara, the Congress President in the state remarked, “once somebody leaves our party, we don’t care where he campaigns. We do not mind as he is free to do what he wants. But Congress friends from Rajasthan will also ask him what happened to his dreams of becoming a minister in the BJP?”

    Voting for the three by-polls in Rajasthan is slated for April 17. 

  • ‘Wish he was as concerned earlier’: Scindia on Rahul’s ‘would have become CM’ remarks

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: Senior BJP leader Jyotiraditya Scindia on Tuesday hit back at Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s “would have become CM” remark, saying he wishes Gandhi was as concerned when he was in the Congress as he is now.

    Gandhi had told his party’s youth wing leaders that had Jyotiraditya Scindia remained in the Congress he would have certainly become chief minister but was now a “backbencher” in the BJP, according to sources.

    The former Congress chief said he had told Scindia so, but “he chose a different path” by joining the BJP, where he can never be the chief minister.

    Asked about the remarks, Scindia told PTI, “I wish Rahul Gandhi was as concerned when I was in the Congress as he is now.” 

    Scindia had left the Congress along with some legislators loyal to him to join the BJP last year.

    This led to the fall of the Kamal Nath-led Congress government in Madhya Pradesh.

    Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan too asked what did Rahul Gandhi do to ensure that Scindia did not leave the party.

    Commenting on Gandhi’s reported remark that had Scindia, now with the BJP, remained in the Congress, he would have certainly become chief minister, Chouhan said Gandhi understands a situation a little late.

    “Where was Rahul Gandhi when Jyotiraditya Scindia was in the Congress?” Chouhan asked, speaking to reporters here.

    “That’s why I say that Rahul’s tubelight glows late (he takes time to understand),” he quipped.

    The Congress had done “injustice” to Jyotiraditya’s father late Madhavrao Scindia too and did not allow him to become chief minister of Madhya Pradesh, Chouhan claimed.

    Earlier, reacting to Rahul Gandhi’s remark, Scindia said, “I wish Rahul Gandhi was as concerned when I was in the Congress as he is now.”

    Scindia left the Congress along with several MLAs last March, bringing down the party’s government in Madhya Pradesh.

  • Controversial poster of Jyotiraditya Scindia put up in MP; cops remove it

    By PTI
    INDORE: A controversial poster of BJP Rajya Sabha MP Jyotiraditya Scindia was put up on Thursday in Indore by protesters who were enraged over the “change” in the name of a road in Guna district of Madhya Pradesh.

    Police later removed the poster and dispersed the protesters, an official said.

    A group of people, calling themselves supporters of Ahilyabai Holkar, a prominent 18th century ruler of the Malwa kingdom, claimed the road in question was earlier named after her, a claim rejected by the Guna district administration.

    The road has now been named after freedom fighter the late Sagar Singh Sisodia, who is the grandfather of the states Rural Development and Panchayati Raj Minister, Mahendra Singh Sisodia.

    Mahendra Sisodia is a loyalist of Scindia and was among the nearly two dozen MLAs who quit the Congress to join the BJP in March last year.

    The minister represents the Bamori assembly seat in Guna district, the home turf of Scindia.

    The Guna Municipal Council (GMC) had organised a prgramme on Monday to name the street, Budhe Balaji Hanuman Tekri road, after Sagar Singh Sisodia.

    The plaque was unveiled by Scindia on the occasion.

    According to eyewitnesses, days after the programme, some protesters put up the poster at Rajbada in Indore, before a bust of Holkar, with a message critical of Scindia.

    The poster carried photos of both Holkar and Scindia, but the image of the latter was marked with a red cross.

    “We told protesters they dont have permission to hold a protest in the Rajbada area following which they dispersed,” Sarafa police station in-charge Sunil Sharma told PTI.

    He said so far no case has been registered in the matter.

    Guna collector Kumar Purshottam said, It is totally wrong to say that as per government records the road, which was named after the late freedom fighter Sagar Singh Sisodia, was earlier known as the Ahilyabai Holkar road.

    The GMC had passed a resolution on August 6, 2019, to name the road after Sagar Singh Sisodia, Purshottam said, adding before that the street was not named after any eminent personality.

  • Government committed to welfare of farmers: Scindia defends agri laws

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: The ruling BJP on Thursday defended the three new farm laws in Rajya Sabha saying the government was committed to farmers’ welfare, and questioned the opposition parties for changing their stance on agricultural market reforms.

    Speaking on the Motion of Thanks to the President’s address to the joint sitting of Parliament, senior BJP member Jyotiraditya Scindia said the government is committed to the welfare of farmers and has taken a host of steps in the last six years to increase their income.

    Scindia, who was recently elected to Rajya Sabha, highlighted that the NDA government has been successful in handling the COVID-19 pandemic and also turning the crisis into an opportunity.

    The BJP leader spoke at length on the three new farm laws passed by Parliament in September last year, and said the Centre has held 11 rounds of discussions with farmer unions to break the deadlock and end the over-two-month-long protest at various borders of the national capital.

    Scindia attacked the Congress for changing its stand on the three legislations, saying that the Opposition party has favoured similar laws in its manifesto for the 2019 Lok Sabha election.

    He said NCP chief Sharad Pawar, who was agriculture minister in the erstwhile UPA government, had written to the chief ministers for reform in farm trade and the need for private sector participation in the agriculture sector.

    “Yeh Juban badalne ki aadat badalni hogi. Chat bhi mera pat bhi mera kab tak chalega (Opposition parties will have to change the habit of going back on words. Heads I win, tails you lose. For how long this will go on),” the BJP member said, and wondered for how long one would continue to hamper the interest of the country.

    Scindia, who quit the Congress in March 2020 to join the BJP, reeled out data to highlight that the procurement operation at the minimum support price (MSP) has grown significantly under the NDA regime.

    The MSP is being fixed at least 1.5 times of the production cost.

    He said the Centre is providing Rs 6,000 per year to farmers under the PM-KISAN scheme and claims worth Rs 90,000 crore have been cleared under the crop insurance scheme, besides setting up of Rs 1 lakh crore agri-infrastructure fund to create storage capacities and reduce post-harvest losses.

    “The NDA government was committed to farmer welfare, it is committed to farmer welfare and will remain committed to farmer welfare,” Scindia said.

    He also condemned the disrespect to the national flag and violence at the Red Fort during the farmers’ tractor rally.

    Talking about the violence at the Red Fort on January 26, he said one cannot forgot the disrespect to the national flag and violence against police personnel as they have etched into memories.

    Scindia said the opposition has insulted the President, the country and the democracy by boycotting the President’s address to both the Houses on January 29.

    He hailed the efforts of the government under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi in checking the spread of the coronavirus when there were grim predictions of 80 crore infections and 20 lakh deaths.

    In a cricket analogy, Scindia said India played a hook shot and drove bouncer of corona out of the boundary.

    He also criticised opposition parties for first questioning the lockdown and then the unlocking process.

    In an apparent jibe at the Congress, Scindia said India voluntarily followed lockdown on the call of the prime minister to check spread of the coronavirus, but there was a lockdown during the Emergency in 1975 which was thrust upon the citizens and the entire country was converted in a jail.

    After the BJP member spoke, it was turn of senior Congress MP Digvijaya Singh which led to some lighter moments in the House.

    Earlier while speaking on the Motion of Thanks, Swapan Dasgupta (nominated) stressed on the need for upgradation in the agriculture sector.

    “If we can rise above this basic partisanship and welcome the Centre in the states and states with each other, I think we can be looking forward not merely to a 11 per cent (GDP) growth but a growth which can be 15 per cent which can be envy of the whole world,” he said.

    He also pointed that only 9-10 per cent of farmers get MSP for their crop.

  • Jyotiraditya Scindia, loyalists not feeling insecure in BJP: Muralidhar Rao

    By PTI
    INDORE: BJP’s Madhya Pradesh in-charge P Muralidhar Rao has termed Jyotiraditya Scindia as the “leader of the entire BJP”, and said the Rajya Sabha member and others who had joined the saffron party along with him do not have any feeling of insecurity.

    Talking to reporters on Sunday on the sidelines of first meeting of the state BJP’s newly formed executive committee, Rao said now Scindia is not just the leader of those who left the Congress along with him (last year) and joined the BJP.

    “He is the leader of the entire BJP. Scindia or those who have come with him to the party have no feeling of insecurity,” he asserted.

    “All these leaders may have come from anywhere, now they have gelled with the BJP,” Rao said.

    He was replying to a query on Scindia loyalists not getting adequate representation in the executive committee.

    “Tell me what is this adequate space? Have all our workers, who worked tirelessly to enrol one crore members in the (state) BJP got an opportunity (in the newly set up executive committee)?” he asked.

    “Please remember that we pushed behind our senior leaders to give ministerial berths to those who came to the BJP along with Scindia,” Rao said.

    Actually, there is no issue of giving more or less weightage to any leader in the BJP, he added.

    In March last year, 22 Congress MLAs, mostly Scindia loyalists, quit the party and resigned from their Assembly membership, causing downfall of the Kamal Nath government.

    The BJP then returned to power in the state under the leadership of Shivraj Singh Chouhan.