Jyotiraditya Scindia appointed to piloting Aviation Ministry

New Delhi: Jyotiraditya Scindia, former Congress leader from Madhya Pradesh and now the key face of BJP in the state, has got the opportunity to serve the aviation ministry, once held by his father Madhavrao Scindia in the Congress-led government in 1991, during late Prime Minister PV Narasimha Rao's tenure.

In the Central cabinet reshuffle, Jyotiraditya Scindia has replaced Hardeep Puri as the new Civil Aviation Minister while later moved to head the Urban Development and Petroleum Ministry.

Scindia switched to the BJP fold after a rift with leaders in the Congress party following the Assembly election victory in Madhya Pradesh. His disquiet with the party leaders, particularly with senior leader Kamal Nath, prompted him and his supporters to vow new allegiance to BJP, leading to the collapse of the Congress government in the state after 15 months.

Educated from Harvard and Stanford institutions, Scindia, 50, expressed his gratitude after he was appointed the Union Minister. "I express my gratitude to all the senior leaders for giving me this opportunity. I will try to keep intact the belief that they have shown in me," he said.

Scindia appeared in the electoral fray for the first time in 2002 for a by-election in the Guna Lok Sabha constituency that was vacant following his father's death in a plane crash.

Madhavrao Scindia died after Beechcraft King Air C90, the private plane on which he and eight others travelled, crashed on the outskirts of the Mainpuri district of Uttar Pradesh on 30 September 2001.