Jaipur: Earlier this month, the BJP announced 15 candidates for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections in Rajasthan, a state where the saffron party and its allies have bagged all 25 parliamentary seats in the last two general elections.
Among the candidates named by the BJP is veteran tribal politician Mahendrajeet Singh Malviya, who last month had switched from the Congress to the BJP and has now been named as the party’s candidate from the Banswara Lok Sabha constituency.
At present, the Banswara parliamentary seat is represented by BJP MP Kanakmal Katara, who this time has been overlooked in the party’s candidate selection process.
A multiple-time MLA and former MP, Malviya was a minister in the Ashok Gehlot-led previous Congress government in the state.
Photo: Facebook/Mahendrajeet Singh Malviya.
Malviya, who had been associated with the Congress since the 1990s, won the Bagidora assembly constituency in Banswara district for four consecutive times starting from 2008.
Despite the Congress facing defeat in last year’s assembly elections in Rajasthan, Malviya had won the Bagidora seat by over 41,000 votes while contesting on a Congress ticket.
The BJP is hoping that by inducting Malviya, who holds substantial clout in the region, it will increase its chances of winning the Banswara Lok Sabha constituency for a third consecutive time.
After joining the BJP, Malviya resigned as an MLA, leaving the Bagidora seat vacant.
Malviya has previously been a Congress MP from Banswara back in 1998.
BJP’s poor performance in southern Rajasthan’s ST seats
So why did the BJP induct local strongman Malviya, a Congress politician, and field him from Banswara while denying a ticket to its incumbent MP Katara, whose work with the RSS-affiliated Vanvasi Kalyan Parishad spans decades in the region?
The answer can be gauged from the BJP’s recent performance in the tribal-dominated Dungarpur and Banswara districts, where all nine assembly constituencies are reserved for the Scheduled Tribe community.
While the BJP emerged as the clear victor in the Rajasthan assembly elections, winning 115 of the 200 assembly constituencies, it could win only two of the nine seats in Dungarpur and Banswara.
Of the remaining seven constituencies, the Bharat Adivasi Party (BAP) won three seats while the Congress was victorious in four constituencies.
Despite the BJP presently holding the Banswara Lok Sabha seat, comprising eight of the nine assembly segments under Dungarpur and Banswara districts, its poor performance reflects the increasing clout of the BAP, which has changed the political equations in southern Rajasthan.
Rise of the BAP
The BAP emerged as a dark horse in the 2023 assembly elections, winning three seats in the Dungarpur and Banswara districts – not an easy feat to pull off in a state where the politics largely revolves around the Congress and BJP, with little space for any third political force.
The BAP had emerged as a splinter group from the Gujarat-based Bharatiya Tribal Party (BTP), with most of the present BAP leaders being earlier associated with the BTP.
Back in 2018, the BTP had won two seats in the region. Subsequently, differences crept in between local tribal leaders in southern Rajasthan and the BTP leadership, which led to the BAP’s creation.
The BAP was created in the run-up to the 2023 assembly elections and enjoyed massive popular support in the tribal region. In its very first electoral foray, the BAP won three seats – Aaspur, Chorasi and Dhariyavad – emerging as a significant player in southern Rajasthan.
Also read: ‘Badlega Raj ya Rivaaj?’: Rajasthan Votes for Change as BJP Scores Decisive Victory
While it was victorious in three seats, BAP candidates finished second in four constituencies – Bagidora, Dungarpur, Sagwara and Ghatol –and third in another four seats – Banswara, Garhi, Kushalgarh and Pratapgarh – in the tribal districts of Dungarpur, Banswara and Pratapgarh.
The fact that in many of these seats, the BAP polled more votes than either the Congress or the BJP reflected the party’s growing support base in the area, banking on issues such as increased reservation for the tribal population and a separate state for the tribal Bhil community.
BAP leaders say that they are all set to contest the Lok Sabha elections
“We are planning to contest elections in around six-seven seats in Rajasthan, including Banswara, Udaipur, Chittorgarh [and] Tonk-Sawai Madhopur. The BJP has inducted Malviya after seeing the power of the BAP. We are confident of winning the Banswara seat from where the BJP is fielding Malviya, Mohanlal Roat, national president of the BAP, told The Wire.
He continued: “The Congress is slowly shrinking in the tribal districts and the BAP is emerging as the main threat to the BJP. Our cadre is 2 lakh strong and we have supporters in every village.”
Roat added that the BAP is at present deciding on alliances with other parties.
Congress’s dilemma and alliance talks with BTP
After losing Malviya – its tallest leader in southern Rajasthan – to the BJP, the Congress, which had fared well in the tribal districts of Banswara and Dungarpur in the 2023 assembly election which it otherwise lost, is presently in a dilemma and is rethinking its strategy in the region.
Congress leaders have been scathing in slamming Malviya for joining the BJP.
“He [Malviya] will not be accepted in the BJP. Our Congress workers had made him this big a leader, and he betrayed them. He was not the son of a king. He was the son of an Adivasi, who rose because of the Congress, became a minister and was given important departments,” Govind Singh Dotasra recently told reporters.
The Congress’s Rajasthan unit is in a dilemma after Malviya’s exit. File image. Photo: X/@INCRajasthan.
“The workers will ensure that he loses the Lok Sabha election. He was a leader because of Congress workers.”
Malviya’s departure has also made the Congress explore options of a possible alliance with the BAP in the region.
While state Congress president Dotasra maintained that any decision on allying with other parties would be taken by the committee formed by the party’s high command to decide on alliances, sources in the Rajasthan Congress confirmed that alliance talks are presently ongoing with the BAP.
While Congress leaders may be tight-lipped about any possible alliance with the BAP, sources said that sections within the grand old party are seriously considering a possible alliance with the BAP, as the Congress doesn’t want to lose out in a three-way contest involving itself, the BJP and the BAP in a region where the Congress had fared well in the assembly elections.
BJP leaders said that the party is confident of winning the Banswara seat once again with the help of a popular tribal leader like Malviya.
“Mahendrajeet Malviya was an MLA for four consecutive times. He has been an MP before and members of his family have been the zila pramukh since the last 25 years. Congress had been losing elections but Malviya had been winning. Had the Congress been able to make someone win elections, it could have made Rahul Gandhi win from Amethi,” said Rajasthan BJP spokesperson Laxmikant Bhardwaj.
“Malviya is a leader with public support and instead of him being a leader because of the Congress, it was the Congress which was present in the area because of his influence,” Bhardwaj added.
“With Malviya quitting Congress, the party has been erased from the entire region. The BJP will benefit from Malviya joining the party and we are confident of winning the Banswara seat.”
While back in 2014, the BJP had won all 25 Lok Sabha seats in the state, in 2019, the party was victorious in 24 seats while the Rashtriya Loktantrik Party, which was then its ally and a part of the National Democratic Alliance, had won the Nagaur parliamentary seat.
