Scindia left Cong despite getting so much from the party: Digvijaya

Rajya Sabha MP Digvijaya Singh on Sunday hit out at BJP leader Jyotiraditya Scindia, saying that the latter left the Congress even as the party had given him "so much".

Singh said leaving Congress was not expected from Scindia and his move has dented the credibility in politics.

Singh's criticism of Scindia came on the day the ruling BJP claimed that as many as 35,843 Congress cadres joined the ruling party in the last two days of its three-day membership drive underway in Gwalior.

However, Singh said that the Congress has grown much stronger in the Gwalior-Chambal region after Scindia quit the party.

The BJP's membership drive began in Gwalior on Saturday.

Talking to reporters here on Sunday, state Energy Minister Pradhyuman Singh Tomar said, "As many as 35,843 Congress leaders and workers joined the BJP in two days in the presence of Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan and RS member Jyotiraditya Scindia."

The minister added that former Congress MP from Morena Barelal Jatav and former Congress MLA from Gwalior rural constituency Ramvaran Gurjar on Sunday joined the saffron party.

The Congress, which had held a protest against the BJP's membership drive when it was launched on Saturday, also organised a 'dharna' (sit-in) at the Rani Lakshmi Bai memorial here on Sunday.

After taking part in the protest, Digvijaya Singh said "The Congress has given so much to Scindia, still he left the party. It was not expected from him. This has dented the credibility in politics."

"The massive protest of thousands of Congress cadres on Saturday against the BJP's big membership drive on its opening day, speaks of the fact that the party has grown stronger after Scindia's exit," Singh told reporters in the afternoon.

Congress media in-charge for Gwalior-Chambal region K K Mishra said that his party held the protest as the ruling BJP violated the COVID-19 protocols.

"The BJP function in Gwalior is being held in violation of the lockdown rules imposed in the state to curb the spread of coronavirus," he added.

Meanwhile, Chouhan, Scindia, Union minister Narendra Tomar and state BJP president V D Sharma have been holding talks with the party's public representatives and office- bearers in the region to chalk out a strategy for the yet-to- be announced bypolls for 27 seats in the state, 16 of them from Gwalior-Chambal region.

Twenty-two Congress MLAs, mostly from the Scindia camp, resigned in March, reducing the Kamal Nath-led dispensation to a minority and paving the way for the BJP to form the government.

Scindia and these former MLAs then joined the BJP.

Last month, three more Congress MLAs resigned and joined the saffron party. Two other assembly seats have fallen vacant due to the death of legislators.