Congress youth leader Jitin Prasada joined the BJP onWednesday breaking off an association of nearly 20 years with Congress. In viewof the elections in UP next year, Jitin, who was close to Rahul Gandhi, joiningthe BJP is a big setback for the Congress.
Last year, he had faced heavy opposition in the party fordemanding a non-Gandhi Congress president. But the rebellion Jitin has got inthe tradition. His father, Kumar Jitendra Prasad, also challenged Sonia Gandhifor the post of Congress President in the year 2000.
Jitin Prasad's family has traditionally been a Congressfamily. His grandfather Jyoti Prasad was a Congress member and held manyimportant positions. Jitin Prasad's father Jitendra Prasad entered politics in1970 as a member of the UP Legislative Council. After this he was elected tothe fifth Lok Sabha from Shahjahanpur in 1971. He was also the Vice Presidentof Congress.
In the year 1998 when Sonia Gandhi announced to contest theelection for the post of Congress President, it had only been one year sinceshe became a member of Congress.
She had taken the primary membership of Congress in 1997itself. In 1998, she announced to contest for the post of Congress President.
The then Congress President Sitaram Kesari had not completedfive years by that time but he could not openly oppose it.
Congress leader Jitendra Prasada also disagreed but he toocould not protest at that time.
In 1999, Sharad Pawar, PA Sangma and Tariq Anwar revoltedagainst Sonia. He said that Sonia Gandhi of Italian origin cannot become thePrime Minister of India. The dispute escalated and in the end all three wereexpelled from the party. Later they formed the Nationalist Congress Party(NCP).
The baton of rebellion thus got handed over to Pilot andJitendra Prasad. Both had expressed their displeasure against family-basedleadership.
Experts say that in 1998, it was Rajesh Pilot who wanted tostand against Sonia for the post of president. Their argument was that if morecapable and experienced leaders than Sonia were in Congress, then why sheshould lead.
Rajesh Pilot's accidental death in the year 2000, RajeshPilot planned that he would contest against Sonia for the post of president. Healso held a massive rally with Jitendra Prasad on May 21, the birthday of formerPrime Minister Rajiv Gandhi. But fate had something else in mind. Within 20days, on June 11, he died in a car accident.
In the year 2000, Jitendra Prasad challenged as he was nowthe one to hold the flag of rebellion. He decided to oppose Sonia in the 2000presidential election. He stood for the post of President against Sonia.Elections were held in November 2000, but they were badly defeated. He got only94 votes out of 7,542 votes cast in the election. Jitendra Prasad could notbear this crushing defeat and he died of brain haemorrhage on 16 January 2001.
On Twitter, #JitinPrasada is trending at number one forIndia. While the tweets of BJP leaders and party workers welcoming him wereflooding the Twitter timeline, so were Jitin Prasada’s statement, "I havea three-generation connection with Congress, so I took this important decisionafter a lot of deliberation. In the last 8-10 years I have felt that if thereis one party that is truly national, it is BJP".
Satish Acharya drew a fitting political cartoon in whichAmit Shah claims, “Shopping essential goods online, ahead of the UP festival ofdemocracy!”
Also read: Jitendra Prasada, close to Rahul, joined BJP
While another Twitter user made a point with his screenshotsof Jitin Prasada wishing happy birthday to Uttar Pradesh CM Yogi Adityanath andthen joining BJP; with the screenshot of Pilot too wishing birthday.
Another Twitter user claimed that Jitin Prasada is not theface of Brahmin in Uttar Pradesh.