New Delhi: Former Congress leader Jyotiraditya Scindia, who joined the BJP earlier in the day, was nominated by the party for the Rajya Sabha from Madhya Pradesh in a list of 11 candidates released on Wednesday evening.
Apart from 11 candidates it is fielding, the BJP has alloyed two seats to its allies.
From Jharkhand, the BJP has given ticket to its state chief Deepak Prakash, and to Ramilaben Bara and Abhay Bharadwaj from Gujarat. In Maharashtra, the BJP has fielded Udayan Raj Bhosale and will support NDA constituent, Republican Party of India-A's chief Ramadas Athawale for the second seat.
Vivek Thakur is the candidate from Bihar, while from Assam, the party will support ally Bodoland People's Front (BPF) leader Biswajit Daimary from one seat, while fielding party leader Bhuvaneshwar Kalita from the second seat. Rajendra Gehlot is the party candidate in Rajasthan.
BJP General Secretary Arun Singh said that the list of candidates was finalised in a meeting of the party's Central Election Committee on Tuesday which was chaired by party President JP Nadda, and attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and other senior minister and leaders.
A day after announcing his resignation from Congress, Madhya Pradesh politician Jyotiraditya Scindia joined BJP on Wednesday in the presence of party president JP Nadda and hailed Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his leadership, saying the country's future is secure in his hands.
Welcoming Scindia to BJP, Nadda reminisced about Jyotiraditya's grandmother Vijaya Raje Scindia, who was one of the founders of BJP, and said, "he is joining his family and we welcome him."
Thanking Prime Minister, Home Minister Amit Shah and Nadda, Scindia said they have given him the platform to serve the people.
"Pained" and "distressed" for not able to serve the people in his previous organisation, he said the Congress is living in denial and it is not the same party what it used to be.
Hailing Modi for his leadership, Scindia said the country's future is secure in his hands.
Talking about Madhya Pradesh, the former Congress leader said the dream which he saw with his former colleagues for the state has been shattered in the last 18 months.
Peeved with his marginalisation in the Congress, Scindia met Shah on Tuesday and then the two leaders went to the prime minister's residence where they held talks for over an hour.
Soon after meeting Modi, he tendered his resignation to Congress president Sonia Gandhi saying it was time for him to move on.
Scindia took the decision to sever his ties with the Congress on the day of his father Madhavrao Scindia's 75th birth anniversary.
A four-time MP, Scindia first got elected from Guna in Madhya Pradesh in 2002 after winning a bye-election necessitated by his father's demise. He was only 31 years old at that time.
He gradually made his way up the Congress ladder becoming Minister of State for Communications and IT in 2007 during the Congress-led UPA-1. In 2009, he became Minister of State for Commerce and Industry and in 2012 was appointed Minister of State for Power during UPA-2.
After the Congress lost the 2014 General Election, Sonia Gandhi named him the party's chief whip in the Lok Sabha.
Congress shifts MLAs to Jaipur
Amid the political crisis in Madhya Pradesh, over 80 Congress MLAs were shifted to Jaipur on Wednesday by their party in a bid to keep its flock together.
The ruling party MLAs, who reached the Raja Bhoj Airport in Bhopal in three buses around 12 noon, expressed confidence that the Kamal Nath-led state government will be able prove its majority.
They also said that 10 to 12 MLAs, out of those who resigned on Tuesday after former Union minister Jyotiraditya Scindia quit the Congress, will also support the party in the event of a floor test in the House.
"We are going to Jaipur with our MLAs. We will stay there together," state minister Sajjan Singh Verma, considered a close confidante of Chief Minister Kamal Nath, told reporters after the Congress MLAs reached the airport.
Another minister Kamaleshwar Patel said they were confident that the Congress-led state government will prove its majority.
"We will prove our majority. We are going to Jaipur where we will sit together and discuss various issues. This is not happening for the first time. It happened earlier (also)," he said.
State minister Priyavrat Singh said all the party MLAs wanted to "relieve their tension" amid the ongoing political situation.
"So, we are going to Jaipur. We will prove our majority. We have 95 MLAs here (at the airport). Independent MLAs and BSP and SP legislators are also supporting," Singh said.
Asked about the 19 MLAs, who are loyal to Scindia and currently staying in Bengaluru, Singh said of them, 10 to 12 legislators would also support the Congress during the floor test as "they were misled".
He also claimed that Congress leaders are in touch with the MLAs staying in Bengaluru.
The BJP on Tuesday night shifted its MLAs to Manesar at Gurugram in Haryana, sources in the saffron party said.
The Congress, whose tally before the rebellion was 114, has a wafer-thin majority in the Madhya Pradesh Assembly whose current effective strength is 228.
It also has the support of four Independents, two BSP legislators and one SP MLA, but some of them are now likely to switch sides to the BJP.
The BJP has 107 seats in the state Assembly.
(With inputs from PTI and IANS.)
