Bhopal/New Delhi: Senior Congress leader Jyotiraditya Scindia, who is sulking ever since he lost in Madhya Pradesh’s chief ministerial race to Kamal Nath in December, on Monday triggered fresh speculation about his political future by dropping his Congress link in a revised Twitter bio.
His loyalist and state women and child welfare minister Imarti Devi, coincidentally, also changed her Twitter bio identifying herself simply as an MLA, not a minister, leaving state Congress leaders wondering what the Scindia camp was up to.
The growing ripples in state political circles prompted Mr Scindia to post a one-line Twitter comment, saying: “Ridiculous commotions over a Twitter profile change done almost a month ago!”
Mr Scindia’s old Twitter profile introduced him thus: “Former member of Parliament, Guna (2002-2019), former minister for power (I/C); MoS Commerce and Industry; MoS Communications, IT& Post”, whereas his latest Twitter bio simply states: “Public servant, cricket enthusiast”.
Mr Scindia also justified omitting his party affiliation in his Twitter account, saying he never mentioned it in his Twitter bio earlier. He explained he had revised his Twitter bio to make it shorter on some people’s advice.
The BJP, however, wondered aloud why the change of status by Mr Scindia in his Twitter profile had drawn the media’s attention. “It seems Mr Scindia is not comfortable with his present identity (Congress) and seeks to change his profile to give him a new identity. Does it not indicate that he is not feeling comfortable in the Congress?” BJP spokesman Rajneesh Agrawal said in Bhopal.
Mr Scindia’s recent exposure of the Kamal Nath government’s failure on several fronts, particularly the CM’s inability to fulfil his promise to waive off farm loans up to Rs 2 lakhs, raised many eyebrows in party circles in Madhya Pradesh. Some MP Congress leaders feel Mr Scindia is just using pressure tactics to force the Congress to make him the PCC president.
In August 2019, Mr Scindia told the high command that he should be made state unit chief, else he “had other options”. In December 2018 when the Congress came to power in the state, chief minister Kamal Nath was PCC chief. He had said since he had taken over as CM, there should be a new state unit chief. However, the high command decided no changes should be made till the Lok Sabha elections. After the disastrous results in the Lok Sabha polls, with Mr Scindia losing his own seat in Parliament, the changes were again put on hold.
