Former Union Minister and Congress leader from Uttar Pradesh Jitin Prasada joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on June 9, months ahead of crucial assembly election in the state.
Prasada is the first among the group of dissenting Congress leaders ‘G-23’, who wrote to party chief Sonia Gandhi in 2020 seeking sweeping organisational reforms, to quit.
"I reached the conclusion that in today's perspective BJP and PM Modi's leadership is the most capable. For the future generation too, this party will prove to be useful," Prasada told ANI on June 10.
Why did Prasada leave the Congress?
That the 47-year-old leader was upset with his party was no secret. His first move was reported in 2019 Lok Sabha polls when he refused to contest from Lucknow parliamentary seat against BJP veteran, now Defence Minister, Rajnath Singh. Many say that Prasada didn’t want to take a risk and preferred to contest from his earlier seat Dhaurahra, which he eventually lost. Others, however, say that he didn’t want to annoy Rajnath Singh by standing against him.
That apart, Prasada is also learned to be unhappy with the party leadership after two Muslim candidates- Zafar Ali Naqvi and Qaiser Jahan were fielded by the party from Lakhimpur Kheri and Sultanpur seats, neighbouring his Dhaurahra seat. Prasada contented that two Muslim candidates in the neighbouring seats would polarise voters against him. He had then denied rumours of joining the BJP.
Reports also suggested that Prasada was feeling side-lined in the UP Congress, more so after new leadership under UP Congress Committee president Ajay Kumar Lallu took over. Further, sources also said, the newly-inducted team of party’s UP general secretary of Uttar Pradesh Priyanka Gandhi, had annoyed many from the old guard including Prasada, who, reportedly, aspired to be the UP Congress president.
Prasada expressed first open signs of dissent in 2020 when he was part of the ‘G-23' group of Congress leaders who wrote to party chief Sonia Gandhi seeking sweeping reforms.
In a sign of reconciliation, however, Prasada was made Congress in-charge of recent West Bengal polls where the party drew a blank. In West Bengal too, Prasada was unhappy. He was against Congress entering into an alliance with Indian Secular Front (ISF), led by a Muslim cleric, ahead of Bengal polls, among other things
How will Prasada’s entry help BJP under CM Yogi Adityanth?
Prasada, often referred to as the ‘Brahmin Face’ of Uttar Pradesh Congress, has joined BJP less than eight months after crucial Uttar Pradesh assembly polls in which Yogi Adityanath government will seek re-election. The entry also assumes significance as it comes in the backdrop of criticism faced by Adityanath dispensation over COVID-19 management. His switch may not be as big to UP as Jyotiraditya Scindia’s was to Madhya Pradesh in 2020, but a Brahmin face’s entry into the saffron party will have a consequence for the Yogi Adityanath government, at least in terms of optics.
The Brahmin community, a strong BJP vote bank comprising 13 percent of UP voters, has reportedly been upset ever since Adityanath, a Thakur took over as the CM.
The joining of Jitin Prasad ji in Bharatiya Janata Party will definitely strengthen the party in Uttar Pradesh,” CM Adityanath tweeted while welcoming the new leader into the party fold.कांग्रेस छोड़कर भाजपा के वृहद परिवार में शामिल होने पर श्री जितिन प्रसाद जी का स्वागत है।
श्री जितिन प्रसाद जी के भारतीय जनता पार्टी में शामिल होने से उत्तर प्रदेश में पार्टी को अवश्य मजबूती मिलेगी।
— Yogi Adityanath (@myogiadityanath) June 9, 2021
Prasada, considered a member of ‘Team Rahul’ joining the BJP also sends out a message that all is not well within Congress in UP, something that will enable the BJP to build a narrative in its favour in the poll campaign.
How does it affect the Congress?
Prasada is the second high-profile former Rahul Gandhi aide to join the BJP in less than a year. Jyotiraditya Scindia, another former aide of Rahul Gandhi, had joined the BJP ahead of by-polls in Madhya Pradesh in 2020. The fresh defection comes a time when the Congress high-command is striving to set the house in order in Punjab, where a group of rebel leaders, including cricketer-turned-politician Navjot Singh Sidhu, have expressed apprehensions that the ruling party might not win the 2022 assembly election under CM Amarinder Singh.
In poll-bound UP, the exit marks a setback for the party that has been struggling to reap any electoral benefits for quite some time now.
Earlier, Congress saw another Brahmin leader and former President of UP Congress committee Rita Bahugana Joshi, now BJP MP from Allahabad, switching to the saffron party in 2016 after a 24-year-long stint in the Congress.
Prasada was considered close to the Gandhis including Priyanka Gandhi. His defection would not be easy to handle for Congress at a time UP in-charge general secretary Priyanka Gandhi is leading the party’s attack on Yogi Adityanath government over a range of issues including COVID-19 management.
Many Congress leaders have, however, been dismissive of any impact by Prasada’s exit. “He failed to win his seat in Dharuhera. Secured zero in Bengal and is not seen on ground. I do not think it is a loss for the party,” said a UP Congress leader who did not want to be named.
UP Congress president Ajay Kumar Lallu called Prasada a leader hungry for power. “At a time when Priyanka Gandhi is connecting with workers and the poor, and trying to stand with them in the hour of need, it shows that leaders like him cannot participate in struggles and only want the pleasure of power,” he said.I believe in @INCIndia as a party that can & must reclaim its position as India’s big tent party. We still have a strong bench that if empowered & optimally utilised, can deliver.
I only wish that several of my friends, peers & valued colleagues hadn’t left us.
— Milind Deora | मिलिंद देवरा ☮️ (@milinddeora) June 9, 2021