Jitin Prasada, former Union minister and Congress Working committee member, joined the Bharatiya Janata Party on Wednesday, just months ahead of the assembly elections in his state Uttar Pradesh. The 47-year-old leader was one of the 23 Congress leaders who last year wrote a letter to the Congress president seeking an overhaul of the party.

“A new political chapter is beginning for me… my three generations were associated with the Congress and I took this decision after a careful thought,” Prasada said after donning a saffrom scarf presented by BJP leader Piyush Goyal at party headquarters in Delhi.

After the ‘dissent letter’, Prasada — son of a former vice-president of the Congress — was made the AICC in-charge of the West Bengal Assembly polls, in which the party was wiped out. Prasada’s exit comes as a jolt for the party just ahead of Uttar Pradesh assembly polls. The former MP from Dhaurahra was one of the Congress’s top leaders in the state that is overseen by party general secretary Priyanka Gandhi.

Earlier today, BJP MP and spokesperson Anil Baluni tweeted that an eminent personality will join the party today at 1 pm at the party headquarters in Delhi.

Jitendra Prasada had challenged Sonia Gandhi’s leadership of the party in 1999 and had contested against her for party chief’s post. He died in 2002.