Congress leader Jitin Prasada joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the presence of Union Railway Minister Piyush Goyal at the party headquarters on Wednesday.
Prasada told reporters after joining the BJP that it was truly the only national party which worked in an institutional way, while others were all about a few people or confined to specific regions. He also hailed Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his leadership qualities and lauded other senior party leaders.
Noting that politics is for public service, Prasada said he realised he cannot do it in the Congress and could not protect people's interests.
"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 regional but this is the national party," Prasada said.
Who is Jitin Prasada?
Jitin Prasada started his career with Indian Youth Congress as a general secretary. He was elected to the Lok Sabha in 2004 for the first time. He was also a minister in the UPA government at the Centre.
Prasada was first elected in 2004 to the 14th Lok Sabha where he became a Member, Committee on Petitions, Committee on Information Technology and Communications, Consultative Committee, Ministry of Civil Aviation. From April 2008 to May 2009, he took charge as the Minister of State, Steel. Later, he was appointed as the Union Minister of State, Human Resource Development from October 28, 2012 to May 2014.
In May 2009, when he was re-elected to 15th Lok Sabha, he took charge as the Union Minister of State, Petroleum and Natural Gas and remained so till 18 January 2011. He was again appointed as the Union Minister of State, Road Transport and Highways from 19 January 2011 till 28 October 2012.
Prasada's departure is a fresh blow to the Congress party after another heavyweight leader of the party Jyotiraditya Scindia had joined the BJP in March 2020.
Forty-seven-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.
With the Congress in dire straits in Uttar Pradesh and Prasada losing the Lok Sabha polls twice in a row, his 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 told PTI.
He also was among the signatory dissenter in the Congress party who sent the letter to high command seeking an active and full-time party president. Prasada is also a special invitee to the Congress Working Committee (CWC).