BHOPAL: BJP's Rajya Sabha member Jyotiraditya Scindia has been inducted into the Union ministry after a wait of nearly one and a half years.
Scindia defected to the BJP with 22 legislators, bringing down the 15-month-old Congress government in the state, in March last year.
Now that Scindia joined the Union cabinet, he has turned into a major power centre in state politics. Prime Minister Narendra Modi inducted him into the Cabinet on Wednesday.
Before joining the Union cabinet, Scindia has continuously been in touch with the senior RSS leaders in the state.
During his several trips to the state capital, Scindia met the senior BJP and the RSS leaders. He, however, gave a wide berth to his loyalists during those trips.
By meeting senior BJP and RSS leaders, Scindia pulled out all stops to ensure his acceptability in the party.
He has also ensured that his loyalists get cabinet berths in the state Cabinet; and that those who lost the by-elections get political posts in the state government.
Now, his induction into the Union cabinet indicates that he has emerged stronger in the Gwalior-Chambal region.
Besides that, Scindia is on good terms with Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan and state party president VD Sharma.
With the induction of Scindia into the Union Cabinet, there are six Union ministers from the state. They are: Jyotiraditya Scindia, Narendra Singh Tomar, Faggan Singh Kulaste, Prahlad Patel, Dharmendra Pradhan and the newly appointed minister Dr Virendra Khatik.
According to some political analysts, the state will progress by leaps and bounds, since there are five Union ministers from the state. All have good connections with the party organisation.
This will also bolster the Centre-state relations. The political game that Scindia wants to play in the Gwalior-Chambal region has just begun.
Besides Scindia, there are two other leaders - Tomar and state Home Minister Narottam Mishra ñ who are strongly rooted in that region.
Scindia had his strong voice in the Congress government, too. Most of his loyalists were the ministers in the Kamal Nath-led government.
Scindiaís supporters are so loyal to him that when he had made a flight to the BJP last year, all his supporters left the government.
Tomar, too, is a dominant leader in the region where Scindia comes from.
In the assembly elections of 2018, the Congress did well in the region because of Scindia, but in the by-elections held last year, the Congress lost most of the seats.
As Tomar and Mishra are already in the BJP, Scindiaís presence might help the ruling party to win more seats in the 2023 assembly elections in the region.
Political analysts further say Scindia has many followers across the state. Now that he has been introduced to the Union Cabinet and that he has ensured his acceptability in the party, he will emerge stronger in the coming days.
The political one-upmanship has, however, just begun in the stormy Gwalior-Chambal region.
