Congress Had Offered Me, Deputy Chief Minister: Scindia

Congress had offered to make Deputy Chief Minister in 2018 but turned down the proposal: Scindia. BJP leader Jyotiraditya Scindia on Sunday said that the top leadership of the Congress had offered to make him the Deputy Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh after the 2018 state elections, but he turned down the proposal and decided to work for the people.

He alleged that Congress has cheated the people of the state by making false promises to come to power. The BJP’s Rajya Sabha MP said this while addressing his party’s three-day membership drive, which will end today. This is the first time that Scindia has publicly acknowledged that he was given this position by the Congress.

In March this year, senior Congress leader Digvijay Singh had said that Scindia was offered the post of Deputy Chief Minister, but Kamal Nath refused to accept Scindia’s disciple. Scindia further targeted Congress, saying, ‘I understood that Kamal Nath and Digvijay Singh will ruin the Congress government in 15 months. Congress betrayed the people with false promises like loan waiver of farmers in 10 days to come to power in the state.

Former Congress President Rahul Gandhi had promised that within 10 days the loans of farmers up to Rs 2 lakh would be waived or the Chief Minister would be sent back on the eleventh day. Scindia left the Congress in March this year and later joined the BJP. Taking a dig at the Congress’s performance against the BJP’s membership campaign in Gwalior, Scindia said that at least he (Congress leader) walked out of his house in protest against the BJP’s campaign five months after the fall of the government in MP.

In view of the by-elections in 27 assembly seats in Madhya Pradesh, the ruling BJP in particular started a membership drive here on Saturday. The 22 rebel Congress MLAs in Madhya Pradesh resigned in March. Most of them were from the Scindia camp. The 15-month-old Kamal Nath government fell in its state and the BJP formed the government.

These former MLAs later joined the BJP. The BJP sent Scindia to the Rajya Sabha, while many of his loyalists held important positions in Shivraj Singh Chauhan’s cabinet. Last month, three more Congress MLAs resigned in the state and joined the BJP and two others have died. As such, 25 assembly seats are vacant in the state. The BJP currently has 107 MLAs and the 107 Congress.