On Madhavrao Scindia’s Birth Anniversary, Congress Expels Son Jyotiraditya For ‘Anti Party Activities’ A Day After He Resigns 

On late senior Congress leader Madhavrao Scindia's birthday, which coincides with the festival of Holi, his son and former Guna MP Jyotiraditya Scindia has decided to ‘move on’.

With this event, the simmering tensions in Madhya Pradesh Congress tipped towards a new chapter, which is dedicated to the exit of a scion.

In a letter dated 9 March and addressed to Congress acting chief Sonia Gandhi, Jyotiraditya Scindia resigned from the Congress. “Having been a primary member of the Congress party for the last 18 years, it is time for me to move on,” he writes in the letter.

The reaction from Congress was piercing, if not quick.

According to ANI on Twitter, Scindia has been ‘expelled’.

It says: “KC Venugopal, Congress: The Congress President has approved the expulsion of Jyotiraditya Scindia from the Indian National Congress with immediate effect for anti-party activities.”

According to reports, Scindia, who went ‘incommunicado’ yesterday, left his home in Delhi earlier today.

Later, he was accompanied by Home Minister Amit Shah, when he met Prime Minister Narendra Modi at 7, Lok Kalyan Marg.

This has come as a screeching turn of events in the crisis, in Chief Minister Kamal Nath- led Madhya Pradesh as well as the state Congress chapter, which intensified yesterday.

There has been enough heat and thaw between the CM and Scindia to last any effort of truce, and both are considered rivals within the party.

The Congress-led government, which was enjoying a thin majority since 2018, when it came to power, saw tensions soaring on Monday, when several events catapulted into a massive jolt. Sixteen MLAs including cabinet ministers in the cabinet resigned on Monday night.

They requested CM Kamal Nath to ‘reconstitute the cabinet’. A lot happened before the big event on Monday. It was a tense day for Kamal Nath who first met Congress acting chief Sonia Gandhi.

The Rajya Sabha election, which has kept the state's top leadership on its toes and huddles was propped as a reason by Kamal Nath for his meeting with Gandhi.

However, reports point that it had to do with the ongoing tussles between the top leaders. After his meeting with Gandhi, Kamal Nath suggested that decisions regarding the nominees from Congress for the Rajya Sabha polls would be taken unanimously.

The CM then had to rush back to Bhopal, where the sulking sixteen MLAs were later reported to have flown to Bangalore. They are understood to be loyal to Scindia.

The developments in Bhopal, Bangalore and New Delhi together suggested that the tensions that had been simmering in the government were indeed turning unfavourable for Kamal Nath.

Yesterday, Digvijay Singh had said that he was trying to get in touch with Scindia, but ‘it is being told that he is suffering from swine flu, so haven't been able to speak to him.’

The former CM of MP and BJP leader Shivraj Singh Chouhan distanced himself from the rival party's crisis saying that it was an ‘internal matter’ of the Congress and that he has nothing to do with it. He said, “This is Congress' internal matter and I would not like to comment on it. We had said on the first day that we are not interested in bringing down the government.”

Earlier today, Chouhan took to Twitter to pay tribute to late Madhavrao Scindia on his birthday.

Scindia's resignation and his meeting Modi and Shah has deepened speculation of his joining the BJP.

His aunts Vasundhara Raje Scindia and Yashodhara Raje Scindia and grandmother Vijaya Raje Scindia, have been and are leading women leaders from the BJP.

This is a developing story and this piece will be updated with further developments in the day.