In the end, it’s all about an official bungalow in Lutyens’ Delhi. Whether it was Sanjay Singh, Bhubaneswar Kalita and now, Jyotiraditya Scindia, the sheer thought of trading an exclusive address in the Capital’s most coveted residential area for a place outside the VIP zone was reason enough to switch political loyalties. Former Congress MP Sanjay Singh crossed over to the Bharatiya Janata Party last year shortly before his Rajya Sabha term was to end. It was the same story with Kalita. Both of them would have to shift out of Lutyens’ Delhi once they ceased to be MPs. While Sanjay Singh is still waiting to be accommodated in the Upper House by his new party, Kalita has been duly rewarded with a Rajya Sabha seat after several months of waiting.
Gwalior scion and former Congress minister Jyotiraditya Scindia was luckier. His nomination to the Rajya Sabha was announced by the BJP the same day he joined the saffron party. He is also tipped to get a ministerial berth when Prime Minister Narendra Modi goes in for his next Cabinet reshuffle. That will be a relief for Scindia who can then move back to a ministerial bungalow which he was forced to vacate after he lost the 2019 Lok Sabha election from Guna. He had been pressing the Congress leadership for a Rajya Sabha seat, but was not sure if his claim would be accepted. A restless Scindia could not wait any longer for official accommodation and the trappings of power that come with it. Needless to say, ideological commitment is not a factor here.
Known for his proximity to the Gandhis and a core member of Team Rahul, Scindia had a dream run in the Congress since he entered politics 18 years ago. The four-term Lok Sabha MP was appointed a junior minister in the Manmohan Singh government and subsequently upgraded as a minister with independent charge. He was the chief whip in the Lok Sabha, was inducted into the Congress Working Committee, the party’s highest decision-making body, and given charge of Western Uttar Pradesh as party general secretary. But Scindia wanted more. He was keen to head Madhya Pradesh Congress in the run-up to the last assembly election which would have made him a top contender for the Chief Minister’s post.
However, he was beaten to it by his bête noire Digvijaya Singh who made a strong case for his friend Kamal Nath. Scindia has since been complaining that Nath and Singh have sidelined him, denying him political space in his home state. He could no longer depend on his friend Rahul Gandhi who had himself lost the battle to the Congress old guard and stepped down as party chief. As interim Congress president, Sonia Gandhi has no desire to rock the boat. Now that Scindia has thrown his lot with the BJP, it has to be seen how he pulls along with his family members. Jyotiraditya Scindia’s aunt and former Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje must be chafing as she has been marginalised in the party while her son and Lok Sabha MP Dushyant Singh is not in the running for a ministerial berth. On the other hand, her nephew is being rewarded immediately on signing up with the party.
Scindia’s younger aunt Yashodhara Raje, also with the BJP, was a minister in Madhya Pradesh and has her base in the Gwalior- Chambal region, the very same as her nephew. Only time will tell whether the two will pool their resources or get caught in a turf war with both battling for supremacy. As it is, Scindia’s relations with his aunts are far from cordial given their entanglement in a messy property dispute. For the BJP, Scindia is a big catch, not because he has a huge mass base, but because netting a high-profile Congress leader, especially someone close to Rahul Gandhi, hits the main opposition party hard. The other advantage of having Scindia on its side is the prospect of gaining a state government as his departure has triggered a spate of resignations by Congress MLAs in Madhya Pradesh.
On the flip side, the BJP has to contend with rumblings in the party’s Madhya Pradesh unit. Local leaders, who have been battling the “Maharaja of Gwalior” and worked hard to defeat him in the last Lok Sabha election are clearly unhappy over the red carpet treatment being given to him. An open revolt is highly unlikely, but the BJP state leaders will ensure that Scindia is not allowed to spread his wings in his home state. In fact, there is every possibility that after the initial euphoria, Scindia could end up as another face in the crowd. This is exactly what happened to others like Mukul Roy and Birendra Singh imported by the BJP. The party usually makes them serve out a prolonged probation period and even after that, there is no guarantee of how they will fare. And yet, the lure of a Lutyens’ bungalow is difficult to resist.
(Anita Katyal is a senior journalist. This column will appear every fortnight.)