New Delhi: Congress leader Jitin Prasada would be a good catch for any party. On Monday, the buzz was that he is headed for the BJP, despite being declared a candidate for the general election. However, Prasada brushed off the media queries as a “hypothetical” question. Needless to say, Prasada, 45, is one of the Congress’s most prominent leaders in Uttar Pradesh.
“Why should I answer hypothetical questions? What is the basis of your question? I am not answerable to a clipping, I am answerable to myself. If it is on Wikipedia, ask them. You are saying reports have suggested I would join by evening, it is already evening, I am in front of you, what do I say,” Prasada told reporters on Friday evening.
Congress spokesperson Randeep Surjewala was more emphatic in his denial: “Jitin bhai and I go back a long way. I never use this kind of language but I can say it is b***s***.” Despite its public posturing, the Congress did appear to be trouble shooting behind the scenes.
Sources say Priyanka Gandhi and Jyotiraditya Scindia, the general secretaries in charge of Uttar Pradesh, met Prasada in an attempt to calm him down. The Congress had recently announced Prasada as a candidate from Dhaurahra, one of the 80 seats in Uttar Pradesh. Once known for his proximity to Rahul Gandhi, he was feeling marginalised, of late.
Jitin Prasada’s father Jitendra Prasada, a veteran Congress leader, had challenged the leadership of Rahul Gandhi’s mother Sonia Gandhi in 1999 and had also contested against her for the post of party chief. Jitendra Prasada lost the bid. He died two years later in 2002. Significantly, Jitin Prasada in 2017 moved a resolution urging Rahul Gandhi to take over as Congress chief from his mother Sonia. (input NDTV).
