"Time to move on": Jyotiraditya Scindia in letter To Sonia Gandhi

NEW DELHI: Former union minister Jyotiraditya Scindia quit the Congress today, ending his nearly two-decade long association with the party, soon after he met Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah this morning. He is likely to join the BJP, co-founded by his grandmother Vijaya Raje Scindia, plunging the 15-month-old Kamal Nath government in Madhya Pradesh into crisis.

"Having been a primary member of the Congress Party for the last 18 years, it is now time for me to move on," the 49-year-old leader - four-time parliamentarian from Guna in Madhya Pradesh - wrote in his resignation letter addressed to Congress chief Sonia Gandhi, dated March 9.

"I am tendering my resignation from the primary membership of the Indian National Congress and as you well know, this is a path that has been drawing itself out over the last year," he added.

While my aim and purpose remain the same as it has always been from the very beginning, to serve the people of my state and country, I believe I am unable to do this anymore with this party," the letter read.

Minutes later, the Congress tweeted that Mr Scindia has been expelled from the party for "anti-party activities".