Jyotiraditya Scindia will contest the 2024 Lok Sabha elections from his family stronghold of Guna
Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia will contest the 2024 Lok Sabha elections from his family stronghold of Guna. Mr Scindia, currently a Rajya Sabha member, quit the Congress in 2020 and crossed over to the BJP with at least 22 MLAs, paving the way for the return of Shivraj Singh Chouhan as Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister. During the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, Mr Scindia - still with the Congress - lost the Guna seat to BJP's Krishna Pal Singh by over 1.25 lakh votes.
Here are five facts about Jyotiraditya Scindia:
1) Born on January 1, 1971, in Mumbai to former Union Minister Madhavrao Scindia and Madhavi Raje Scindia, Jyotiraditya Scindia comes from the royal family of Gwalior. Jivajirao Scindia, his grandfather, was the last maharaja of the princely state of Gwalior. He went to the prestigious Doon School in Dehradun and has a bachelor's degree in Economics from Harvard University. Jyotiraditya Scindia is an MBA from Stanford.
2) Jyotiraditya Scindia was an investment banker and worked for Morgan Stanley and Merrill Lynch before taking the political plunge. His entry into politics was sudden, after the death of his father Madhavrao Scindia in a helicopter crash in 2001. The following year, Jyotiraditya Scindia contested from the family seat of Guna and became a parliamentarian for the first time. He remained a Congress MP before losing his seat to BJP's Krishna Pal Singh in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.
3) Over the past 22 years in active politics, Mr Scindia has held significant ministerial positions. In 2008, he served as the Minister of State for Telecommunications and IT. In 2009, he became the Minister of State for Commerce and Industry, and in 2012, he held the portfolio of Minister of Power (Independent Charge). As Minister of State for Telecommunications, Posts, and IT, he initiated Project Arrow, bringing transformation to Indian post offices through modernisation and IT-enabled procedures. As Minister of State for Commerce and Industry, he successfully reduced transaction costs in Indian exports and contributed to various stages of production for the end customer.
4) In 2020, in a move that shocked many across the political spectrum, Jyotiraditya Scindia severed ties with the Congress, pulling the plug on the Kamal Nath government in Madhya Pradesh. He then switched to the BJP and was sent to the Rajya Sabha. In 2021, Mr Scindia was handed charge of the Civil Aviation Ministry, which was once headed by his father.
5) Besides politics, Jyotiraditya Scindia takes an interest in cricket, having served in leadership positions in the BCCI and the Madhya Pradesh Cricket Association. He also serves as the president of the Board of Governors at the Scindia School, Madhav Institute of Technology and Sciences, and Samrat Ashok Technological Institute.