New Delhi: In a huge blow to the Congress ahead of the Uttar Pradesh election in 2022, former Congress leader and Union minister Jitin Prasada joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Wednesday in presence of party leader and Union minister Piyush Goyal.
Prasada, a big Brahmin name, who has been a close aide of former Congress president Rahul Gandhi joined the BJP ahead of the crucial Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections.
“I have a three-generation connection with Congress, so I took this important decision after a lot of deliberation. In the last 8-10 years I have felt that if there is one party that is truly national, it is BJP. Other parties are regional but this is a national party,” Jitin Prasada said having joined the saffron party.
Giving him the membership slip, Piyush Goyal said, “Jitin Prasada has spent his life working for UP. He was just 27 when his father passed away and he was working in Mumbai at such a young age. He went to various districts of UP and worked for the people of UP.”
Prasada began his career with Indian Youth Congress as a general secretary. He was elected to the Lok Sabha in 2004 for the first time. He was also a minister in the UPA government at the Centre. Prasada’s departure comes as a big blow to the Congress after another heavyweight leader of the party Jyotiraditya Scindia had joined the BJP in March 2020.
As a prominent Congress leader from Uttar Pradesh, the exit of Prasada is likely to affect the Congress’ plans of revival in Uttar Pradesh which sends the largest number of MPs to the Parliament. Congress has been trying to revive the grassroots base of the party in Uttar Pradesh by projecting Priyanka Gandhi.
