New Delhi: The Congress Party's Jitin Prasada has joined the main rival Bharatiya Janata Party and becomes the latest high-profile leader to quit the opposition party.
Prasada met federal minister Piyush Goyal shortly before crossing over, reports said. The move is seen as a setback for the Congress as it comes ahead of elections in the politically important Uttar Pradesh state in 2022.
Prasada had served as a minister in different departments between 2008 and 2014 under prime minister Manmohan Singh. He is the second leader in the inner circle of Congress party's top leader Rahul Gandhi to leave, after the exit of another prominent leader Jyotiraditya Scindia in 2020.
Prasada was part of the group called 'G-23', which wanted deep reforms within the Congress party and demanded collective decision making and a clear leader for the party. He also publicly criticized his own party's electoral alliance with the Indian Secular Front led by a Muslim cleric in West Bengal in the polls this year.
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The 47-year-old leader began his political career as a General Secretary in the Indian Youth Congress in 2001 and became a member of Parliament three years later after winning his first election. Prasada was born in Shahjahanpur in Uttar Pradesh and represented Dhaurahra Parliamentary constituency in the 15th Lok Sabha, which was elected in 2009. Prasada married Indian journalist Neha Seth who had worked for the Times of India newspaper and private broadcaster CNN IBN.
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