Had turned down Madhya Pradesh Dy CM's post offered by Congress, says Jyotiraditya Scindia
Gwalior: BJP leader Jyotiraditya Scindia on Sunday said that although the Congress's top leadership had offered to make him the deputy chief minister of Madhya Pradesh after the 2018 state polls, when he was still in that party, he had turned down the offer as he decided to work for the people.
He alleged that the Congress had betrayed the people of the state with false promises to come to power.
"The Congress's top leadership had offered me deputy chief minister's post. Instead, I decided to work for the people," the BJP Rajya Sabha member said while addressing his party's three-day long membership drive, which will end here on Monday.
This is for the first time that Scindia has publicly admitted that he was offered this post by the Congress.
In March this year, veteran Congress leader Digvijaya Singh had said that Scindia was offered the post of MP deputy chief minister, but Kamal Nath had refused to accept a "chela".
Scindia said, "I understood that Kamal Nath and Digvijaya Singh will ruin the Congress government in 15 months. The Congress betrayed the people with false promises like waiver of farm loan in 10 days in order to come to power in the state."
"Former Congress chief Rahul Gandhi had promised that farm loans of up to to Rs 2 lakh will be waived within 10 days or else the chief minister will be sent back on the eleventh day," he said.
"Congress made false promises to come to the power in the state," he alleged.
Scindia had quit the Congress in March this year and later joined the BJP.
On the Congress's agitation against the BJP's membership drive in Gwalior, Scindia said, "At least they (Congress leaders) came out of their houses to protest against BJP's drive five months after losing the government in MP."
With an eye on the by-elections to 27 assembly constituencies in Madhya Pradesh, especially in Gwalior- Chambal region of the state that accounts for 16 of these seats, the ruling BJP has launched the membership drive here on Saturday.
Twenty-two rebel Congress MLAs in Madhya Pradesh, mostly from the Scindia camp, resigned in March, reducing the 15-month-old dispensation led by Kamal Nath to a minority and paving the way for the BJP to form the government in the state.
These former MLAs had later joined the BJP. The BJP then sent Scindia to Rajya Sabha, while many of his loyalists got important portfolios in Shivraj Singh Chouhan's cabinet.
Last month, three more Congress MLAs in the state resigned and joined the saffron party, taking their number to 25, while two assembly seats had fallen vacant due to the demise of legislators.
The Congress now has 89 MLAs in the House, while the ruling BJP has 107. The effective strength of the 230-member House has come down to 203 due to the resignations and deaths of legislators.
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Rickelton's ton in vain as SRH beat MI by 6 wickets
Mumbai (PTI): Ryan Rickelton's whirlwind unbeaten ton was overshadowed by Heinrich Klaasen's unbeaten 65 as Sunrisers Hyderabad defeated Mumbai Indians by six wickets in an IPL match here on Wednesday.
Chasing an imposing 244-run target, Travis Head (76 off 30) and Abhishek Sharma (45 off 24) shared 129 runs for the opening wicket to set the platform for SRH.
Klaasen (65 not out off 30 balls) then displayed his all-round hitting abilities to guide SRH home with the help of Nitish Kumar Reddy (21) and Salil Arora (30 not out off 10) in 18.4 overs.
Earlier, Rickelton's knock powered MI to 243 for five.
MI rode on a 93-run stand between Rickelton (123 not out off 55 balls) and Will Jacks (46 off 22) in 7.1 overs for the opening stand to power the side.
MI skipper Hardik Pandya scored a valuable 31 off 15 balls before being dismissed.
Praful Hinge (2/54), Eshan Malinga (1/29), Sakib Hasan (1/39) and Nitish Kumar Reddy (1/31) were the wicket-takers for SRH.
Brief Scores:
Mumbai Indian: 243 for 5 in 20 overs (Ryan Rickelton 123 not out; Praful Hinge 2/54).
Sunrisers Hyderabad: 249 for 4 in 18.4 overs (Travis Head 76, Heinrich Klaasen 65 not out; AM Ghazanfar 2/51).
