Known to be a close aide of Rahul Gandhi, Congress leader Jyotiraditya Madhavrao Scindia made it to headlines after he got into an intense verbal spat, in presence of the party president, with Digvijaya Singh. The two leaders, who have been asked to pick candidates for the November 28 elections in Madhya Pradesh, sparred over the choice of candidates when Gandhi was visiting the state for a poll campaign.
The dispute comes amid reports that the grand old party has been unable to lock down on a chief ministerial candidate in the state, though Scindia and senior leader Kamal Nath are unofficially touted to be the party’s faces for the post.
So who is Jyotiraditya Scindia?
Jyotiraditya is the grandson of Jivajirao Scindia, who was the last Maharaja of Gwalior. He is a Member of Parliament, representing the Guna constituency in Madhya Pradesh. Jyotiraditya was the Minister of State with independent charge of Power under former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh from October 2012 to May 2014.
Son of Madhavrao Scindia and Madhavi Raje Scindia, Jyotiraditya was born in Mumbai on January 1, 1971. He studied at Campion School in South Mumbai and The Doon School, Dehradun. The Congress leader has studied Economics at Harvard University and later received an MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business.
Jyotiraditya Scindia joined politics after the death of his father and was elected to the Lok Sabha in February 2002 from Guna District – formerly represented by his father. He was re-elected in May 2004 and was introduced to the Union Council of Ministers in 2007 as Minister of State for Communications and Information Technology. He was then re-elected in 2009 for a third consecutive term and became Minister of State for Commerce and Industry. Later, he became Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Power. Scindia was appointed Minister of State for Power in November 2012 in a cabinet reshuffle which drafted a number of younger politicians into the Indian cabinet.
Role of Jyotiraditya Scindia in Madhya Pradesh Assembly elections 2018:
Scindia known to be a close confidante of Congress president Rahul Gandhi, who has entrusted him with organising and managing Congress’ poll campaign in the state. Jyotiraditya is also seen as one of the top contenders for the chief minister’s position. Over the last few years, Jyotiraditya has systematically travelled to rural areas of the state to build support at the grassroots. He was also at the centre of Congress’ successful campaign for the Mungaoli and Kolaras assembly bypolls earlier this year. But, Congress refused to declare a CM candidate before the polls and appointed former Union minister Kamal Nath as the state unit president.