The MLA has considerable influence in Marwar, which sends 30 legislators to the Assembly.
Banking on anti-incumbency sentiment against the Vasundhara Raje-led Bharatiya Janata Party government in Rajasthan to help it put up a winning performance in the December 7 state election, the Congress received a shot in the arm with former BJP leader Manvendra Singhjoining its ranks on October 17. Congress leaders and political pundits say the Rajput leader’s entry gives the Congress a clear edge over the BJP in the Marwar region, which sends 30 legislators to the state’s 200-strong Assembly.
Manvendra Singh, the MLA from Sheo, is the son of former Union minister and senior BJP leader Jaswant Singh. He quit the BJP in September, saying that his decision to join the party had been a mistake. With his departure, the BJP no longer has a Rajput leader with a high evel of popularity in the state. Rajputs account for around 7% of the state’s population.
In previous elections, influential Rajput leaders such as Jaswant Singh and the late Bhairon Singh Shekhawat had boosted the BJP’s electoral prospects in Marwar, which comprises the districts of Jodhpur, Barmer, Nagaur, Sirohi, Pali, and Jalore. On average, 15 to 17 Rajput legislators have been voted in to the 200-member state assembly during each election, most of them coming from the BJP. Of the 27 Rajputs elected to the House in 2013, for instance, 24 were from the BJP.
However, that support began to crumble after the BJP denied Jaswant Singh a Lok Sabha ticket in the 2014 general elections and decided instead to field Colonel Sonaram Choudhary, a former Congress leader and a Jat. Jaswant Singh chose to contest as an independent candidate. He lost the election by a margin of 80,000 votes. The Rajputs were miffed with the BJP’s treatment of Jaswant Singh. After Jaswant Singh slipped into a coma in August 2014, Manvendra Singh started mobilising votersagainst the BJP.
Why Rajputs are angry with Raje, BJP
Evidence of Manvendra Singh’s popularity was apparent on September 22, when his Swabhiman Rally in Barmer drew lakhs of supporters. In fact, resentment among Rajputs with the ruling BJP is so intense that members of the community threw stones at Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje’s bus during her Gaurav Yatra in August, forcing her to complete the Marwar leg of her campaign tour in a helicopter.
Other factors have also contributed to Rajput anger against Raje and the BJP. In July 2017, they violently protested against the killing of Rajput gangster Anandpal Singh by the state police. Singh was facing murder charges. His family claimed he had wanted to surrender and that the encounter was fake. Eventually, the Central government gave in to the community’s demand and ordered a Central Bureau of Investigation inquiry. The fact that no Rajput BJP legislator came out in support of Anandpal Singh’s family angered the community.
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