Bhopal, Jan 10 (IANS): Madhya Pradesh Congress President Jitu Patwari hit out at Union Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia claiming that the latter wasn’t projected as the chief ministerial candidate in the 2018 Assembly elections.

He claimed that the Congress had contested the Assembly election on collective leadership and had formed the government.

Patwari, who took charge as state unit head from the former PCC President Kamal Nath, made this remark during a visit to Bhind on Wednesday.

“The Congress had contested the Assembly election in 2018 under a collective leadership. Jyotiraditya Scindia wasn’t projected as the CM face then. It’s a wrong message that he (Scindia) was the CM face,” Patwari added.

Notably, Scindia had ended his association with the Congress in March 2020 when 22 MLAs had joined the BJP and the Kamal Nath Government was toppled within 15 months.

Scindia, who had lost the Lok Sabha election from his family bastion Guna in 2019, was made Rajya Sabha MP soon after he joined the saffron party and then he was made Civil Aviation Minister in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Cabinet.

His move to the BJP was a major setback to the Congress. After he joined the BJP, saffron leaders maintained that the Congress came to power in 2018 because of Scindia, but he wasn’t made the chief minister.

Jitu Patwari’s fresh remarks on Scindia came at a time when the party was struggling to strengthen its position after a massive defeat in the 2023 Assembly election.

The BJP won 163 out of 230 Assembly seats, while the Congress could win only 66 seats against 114 in 2018.

Jitu along with the Leader of Opposition in the Assembly – Umag Singhar was touring Gwalior-Chambal in view of the preparation for the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections this year.

In the days to come, the state unit Congress leadership would be visiting other districts of the region such as - Morena, Gwalior, Shivpuri, Sheopur, Rajgarh and Datia.