Former ministers, MLAs join BJP ahead of Lok Sabha polls in Rajasthan
Rajasthan chief minister Bhajanlal Sharma said the Congress that reigned the country over the decades post-independence only cheated the public
In a jolt to the Congress party ahead of the upcoming Lok Sabha elections, several Congress leaders in Rajasthan, including former ministers Rajendra Yadav and Lal Chand Kataria, joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Sunday.
Former Congress MLAs Ricchpal Mirdha, Vijaypal Mirdha and Khiladi Bairwa, former independent MLA Alok Beniwal, Suresh Chaudhary, Rampal Sharma and Riju Jhunjhunwala among other leaders also joined the BJP in presence of chief minister Bhajanlal Sharma, state BJP president C P Joshi and Union minister Bhupendra Yadav at the state BJP office in Jaipur.
The development came days after former Congress minister and tribal leader Mahendrajeet Singh Malviya joined the BJP on February 20. Malviya has also been announced as the BJP’s candidate from Dungarpur-Banswara Lok Sabha seat.
Kataria, who had been a Union minster in the first UPA (2009) government and agriculture minister in the Ashok Gehlot cabinet in Rajasthan had refused to contest in the state assembly election last year from Jaipur’s Jhotwara, triggering speculation of him joining the BJP.
Former higher education minister Yadav’s residence was searched by the Enforcement Directorate twice last year in connection to an alleged mid-day meal irregularity. He lost the last assembly poll to the BJP’s Hansraj Patel by a mere 321 votes after serving the constituency twice in 2013 and 2018.
Addressing the gathering, Kataria said he joined the BJP because of his conscience. He said that the BJP understands the pain and suffering of farmers, the poor and the common man.
“My soul was hurting me for a long time inside the Congress. What the Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led BJP government did, our government couldn’t. The long-time pending issue of the Eastern Rajasthan Canal Project was also resolved by CM Sharma who is also a son of a farmer. The Congress failed to do anything,” said Kataria after officially joining the BJP in Jaipur.
He added, “I have not joined the party as a leader but as a mere worker. I will put all my efforts ton execut the duties that my leaders will assign to me.”
Assuring the BJP’s victory on all the 25 Lok Sabha seats in Rajasthan, Yadav said, “We came to the BJP for its ideology. We will make sure that our presence makes the BJP stronger, and it wins all 25 seats.”
Apart from Kataria and Yadav, former Congress MLAs Richhpal Mirdha, Vijaypal Mirdha, Alok Beniwal and Khiladi Lal Bairwa and Ramnarayan Kisaan also switched the party on Sunday claiming their disappointment with the Congress leadership.
The two prominent Jat leaders and the members of the Mirdha family in Nagaur, Richhpal and his son Vijaypal (who is also the son-in-law of Lal Chand Kataria) had expressed their discontent over the Congress leadership several times in the last few months for not providing them with “deserving respect” despite being senior leaders.
“Despite serving them (Congress) for over 50 years, they had always been sidelining the big leaders of the Jat community. They failed to give us anything while the Modi-led BJP government made a Jat’s son, Jagadeep Dhankhar, the vice-president of the country. The Congress will now have to be scared,” said Mirdha.
Richhpal remained a four-time MLA from Nagaur’s Degana. His son Vijaypal was elected in 2018, but lost in the 2023 assembly polls.
Richhpal is the uncle of former Congress MP Jyoti Mirdha, who switched to the BJP days before the assembly election in 2023. She has been announced as the BJP Lok Sabha candidate from Nagaur.
Other significant names who joined the BJP from the Congress is industrialist and 2019 Lok Sabha candidate of Ajmer, Riju Jhunjhunwala.
Speaking on the occasion, CM Bhajan Lal Sharma said, “Your presence will strengthen our party. The Congress that reigned the country over the decades post-independence only cheated the public. They have always asked votes in the name of poor, farmers, and the laborers. But now their people are stating that they are deprived.”
BJP state president C P Joshi said, “The leaders who joined us today have showed their faith in (Prime Minister) Modi’s ideology and the double-engine government of the BJP. They have realised that the party who oppose the foundation of Ram Mandir after a long time cannot be trusted. We, together, will now gift Modi the 25 seats from Rajasthan in the upcoming Lok Sabha poll.”
On Congressmen joining the BJP, former CM Ashok Gehlot tweeted, “The leaders who are leaving the Congress were recognised by the Congress, made Union ministers, state ministers, placed on big positions in the party, but in difficult times for the party, they are leaving the party and running away.”
“Many people are saying that they are under pressure from central agencies and hence are joining the BJP. This is not the time to bow down to any pressure but to save democracy and fight for the future of the country. We should take inspiration from the Gandhi family, in which Rahul Gandhi and his entire family were harassed by the ED for many days on the pretext of questioning, their Parliament membership was cancelled, their house was even evacuated, but they were facing every pressure strongly. Through Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra, they are travelling across the country and creating public awareness against injustice, inflation, hatred and unemployment. This is how competition in politics is fought boldly,” he said.
“Today, there is pressure on every institution in the country and every person is feeling the atmosphere of tension. This tension and pressure has to be countered, which only the Congress party can do. Only the Congress can keep the democracy of this country strong and safe,” he added.
Leader of Opposition Tikaram Jully said, “Only those who are leaving the Congress can tell the reason whether they’re leaving out of fear or greed. Be it positions within the party or respect, the Congress has given them everything.”
“If the leaders are leaving the party, the party has no loss. It will be at a loss only when its Karyakartas (workers) leave it, but the Congress’ Karykartas are strong and they know what to do. The BJP talks about ‘Congress Mukt Bharat’ but keeps adding people from the Congress. Where is the BJP’s ideology left then?... They (BJP) talk about ‘370 paar’ but they’re in fear if they can win even 272 seats...” he added.
Recommended Topics