Jyotiraditya's reply to Rahul's 'backbencher' jibe

Rahul Gandhi's reported comment that Jyotiraditya Scindia had become a "backbencher" in the BJP and would have to return to the Congress to ever be chief minister has drawn a swift and sharp response from the Rajya Sabha member. He said, "It would have been a different situation had Rahul Gandhi been concerned the same way as he is now, when I was in the Congress."

Scindia left the Congress, his party of 19 years, in March last year, starting an exodus that led to the collapse of the party's Kamal Nath government and the return of the BJP in Madhya Pradesh. Rahul Gandhi and Jyotiraditya Scindia's association goes back a long way and after Scindia left the party, Rahul said they went in the college together and his doors were always open for Scindia. "Jyotiraditya is the only one who can walk into my house anytime... He was with me in college," Rahul had said.