Jitin Prasada dumps Congress to join BJP, says it is the only institutional party in the country

By Asianet Newsable English | First Published Jun 9, 2021, 1:03 PM IST

"If there is an institutional party in the country today, it is the BJP. Other parties are personality-driven and regional," Jitin Prasada said after joining the BJP.

In a major setback for the Congress party, senior party leader Jitin Prasada joined the Bharatiya Janata Party on Wednesday.

Jitin Prasada joined the BJP at the party's headquarters in New Delhi.

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After accepting the party membership, Prasada said: "I thank Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah and BJP leadership for including me in this family. This is a new chapter of my political life."

"My ties with the Congress go back to three generations. I have made this decision after a lot of thought," he said.

"I realised that while staying in Congress I would not be able to meet the aspirations of the people and protect their interests."

"If there is an institutional party in the country today, it is the BJP. Other parties are personality-driven and regional," Prasada added.

Who is Jitin Prasada?

Jitin Prasada, who hails from Shahjahanpur in Uttar Pradesh, was the Congress in charge of West Bengal had been critical of the party delaying the seat-sharing pact with the Left, which he said was among the reasons why the party performed poorly. He was Minister of State in the United Progressive Alliance government.

During the 2019 Lok Sabha election, it was reported that Priyanka Gandhi wanted to field a popular Brahmin candidate from Lucknow to fight again BJP stalwart Rajnath Singh, and the person she wanted for the same was Jitin Prasada.

Jitin Prasada is a popular urban face who has served two terms in the council of ministers. However, Prasada was reluctant to contest from Lucknow and picked Dhaurara to fight the elections. He, however, lost from Dhaurara for the second consecutive time. In fact, he was third in the polling list. This was also the worst performance for Congress on the seat after the 1977 post-emergency elections when Congress scored nil in unified Uttar Pradesh.

Prasada was among the 23 Congress dissenters -- often termed as G23 -- who wrote a letter to Congress chief Sonia Gandhi about party leadership seeking organizational changes. Though Sonia Gandhi made it clear that the letter was not sent with any ill intentions, she said that it was unfortunate that top leaders of the party are protesting. Prasada bore the brunt of being a part of that group.

In the CWC meeting, Prasada came under the line of fire by Ambika Soni who reminded him of the history of his father late Jitendra Prasada who lost against Sonia Gandhi in the party president elections in the year 2000.

She also mentioned many incidents where Sonia Gandhi made it a point to accommodate the interests of both Jitendra and Jitin Prasada after winning the party elections.

Jitin Prasada's father, Jitendra Prasada, a veteran Congress leader, had challenged the leadership of Rahul Gandhi's mother Sonia Gandhi in 1999.

He had also contested against her for the post of party chief. Jitendra Prasada lost the bid. He died two years later, in 2002.

Just before the 2020 CWC meeting, the entire UP Congress had passed a resolution to support the leadership of Sonia and Rahul Gandhi further isolating Prasada in the state which is now entirely defined by Priyanka.

He, however, tried his best to woo the Brahmin votes by forming the Brahma Chetna Samvad, an initiative of his outfit Brahman Chetna Parishad. But these events have further increased the hostilities in the party.

His last assignment with Congress was being appointed as the General Secretary of All India Congress Committee for the West Bengal Pradesh Congress Committee. He was one of the only big-wigs campaigning in Bengal and after the defeat, he pushed the blame on alliance with ISF as the reason.

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