SCOOP: Jyotiraditya Scindia to join BJP & be named RS candidate; MP floor test on March 16

In a sensational development minutes after Congress leader Jyotiraditya Scindia announced his resignation from the party on Tuesday, sources have said that Scindia will officially join the BJP in the afternoon. Sources further mentioned that in the evening BJP's Central Election Commission (CEC) will also announce Scindia as a Rajya Sabha candidate from Madhya Pradesh.

Further, sources said that to challenge the Kamal Nath-led government, BJP will demand a floor test in Madhya Pradesh Assembly on March 16. The Rajya Sabha election is to be held on March 26. 

READ | It's Official! Jyotiraditya Scindia Resigns From Congress; Read His Letter To Sonia Gandhi

Scindia resigns

In his letter, Scindia mentioned that his dissatisfaction had built up in the past one year. He wrote to Sonia, "As you well know, this path that has been drawing itself out over the last year." 

Minutes before the resignation, Jyotiraditya Scindia met Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the latter's residence along with former BJP party chief Amit Shah. After the meeting, Shah and Scindia left together, with the miffed Congress leader leaving behind the Range Rover he had driven into 7LKM.

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The Congress high-command had also attempted desperate overtures to Scindia, offering to meet his demands, whether they be a Rajya Sabha seat or the post of Madhya Pradesh Congress chief. However, Scindia appeared resolved.  The day also falls on the 75th birth anniversary of Scindia's late father and former Congress leader Madhavrao Scindia.

Tuesday's developments come at a time that the Kamal Nath-led Madhya Pradesh government appears to be on the brink, with the MLAs who are loyal to Scindia also ready to resign, their numbers posing a fatal threat to the maintainability of the Congress government. At the time of writing, there are said to be at least 18 Congress MLAs in Bengaluru, while other purported rebels are in Delhi and in Madhya Pradesh. Kamal Nath's entire cabinet resigned on Monday evening, in an apparent effort to create space for a rejig to placate the rebel camp.

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