Was not able to protect interests of our people in Congress, BJP is only truly national party: Jitin Prasada

Noting that politics is for public service, Jitin Prasada said he realised that he cannot do it in Congress and could not protect people`s interests.

NEW DELHI: Congress leader Jitin Prasada joined the BJP on Wednesday, in a shot in the arm for the saffron party as it prepares for the upcoming assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh scheduled for early next year.

Jitin Prasada joined the BJP in presence of Union Minister Piyush Goyal and its chief spokesperson Anil Baluni. Speculation was rife even during the 2019 Lok Sabha elections about Prasada joining the BJP, but it is believed that the Congress leadership had then managed to persuade him against quitting the party.

Prasada told reporters after joining the BJP that it was “truly the only national party” that worked in an institutional way, while others were all about a few people or confined to specific regions. 47-year-old former Congress leader also hailed Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his leadership of the country and also lauded other senior party leaders.

“If there is any political party or a leader standing for the interests of the nation today, given the situation that our country is going through, it is BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi,” Jitin Prasada said after joining the saffron party. 

Noting that politics is for public service, Prasada said he realised that he cannot do it in Congress and could not protect people's interests.

“I felt that what is the relevance of staying in a party if you can't protect interests of your people or work for them. I felt I was unable to do that at Congress. I thank people in Congress who blessed me all these yrs but now I'll work as a dedicated BJP worker,” Prasada said while addressing a press conference.

Jitin Prasada, however, thanked the Congress leaders for guiding and mentoring him in all those years. “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 just regional but this is a national party,” Prasada said.

Welcoming him in the party fold, Goyal heaped praise on him, lauding him as a leader of the stature whose induction will boost the BJP. It will also help him in serving society, the Union Minister added.

The 47-year-old Prasada, a former Union minister, comes from a well-known Brahmin family of Uttar Pradesh and was serving as the Congress leader in charge of West Bengal before joining the BJP. His father Jitendra Prasada was a noted Congress leader.

His father Jitendra Prasada, a prominent `Brahmin` face in Uttar Pradesh, had challenged Sonia Gandhi`s leadership in 1999 and had contested against her for the post of party chief. He died in 2002.

With the Congress in dire straits in Uttar Pradesh and he himself losing the Lok Sabha polls twice in a row, Prasada's decision to join the BJP may help him politically at a time when the saffron party is working overtime to boost its ranks in preparation for the assembly polls.

It will also help the BJP keep Brahmins, a section of whom are said to be unhappy with the party in Uttar Pradesh, in good humour in the politically important state of India, party sources said.

The saffron party believes that Prasada joining BJP will help it pacify Brahmins in Uttar Pradesh, where the Assembly poll will be held early next year. A party insider said that Prasada could be projected as the Brahmin face of the party which is completely missing in Uttar Pradesh.

Prasada, once close to Rahul Gandhi, was part of Group-23 (G-23) signatories who had written to Congress interim president Sonia Gandhi demanding sweeping reforms in the party. Despite being a dissenter, he was tasked with the Congress campaign in West Bengal, which turned out to be a disappointment.

Taking a stand against the party, he opposed Congress` alliance with the Indian Secular Front (ISF) in West Bengal. Prasada was elevated to the rank of secretary in the Indian Youth Congress in 2001 for the first time. In 2004, he tried his luck in the 14th Lok Sabha elections from his home seat Shahjahanpur and won. He was appointed Union minister of state, steel, in 2008.

In 2009, Prasada contested the 15th Lok Sabha elections from Dhaurahara and won by 184,509 votes. He has been the Union Minister of State in the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways from 2009 to January 2011, Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas from January 2011 to October 2012 and Ministry of Human Resource Development from October 2012 to May 2014.

(With Agemy Inputs)