Rajput vs Jat in high-stake CCI elections

When BJP MP from Bihar’s Saran Rajiv Pratap Rudy was declared elected in a nail-biting contest for a key Constitution Club of India (CCI) post this Wednesday, war cries of “Jai Sanga” rented the air.

The jubilant supporters of Rudy, a five-term sitting MP, raised celebratory slogans, invoking the memory of the 15th century Rajput king Rana Sanga, a leading warrior of his times and the Maharana of Mewar.

As a beaming Rudy greeted his loyalists, the message in the community slogan wasn’t lost on anyone.

Seventy-eight years after Independence, caste remains integral to Indian society, dictating, dominating and often altering the equations in the smallest to the mightiest of electoral battles. So it did during the election for the post of Secretary Administration at the CCI, an elite institution meant as a gathering space for parliamentarians and founded way back in 1947.

In the contest for the top post of Secretary Administration at the Club this year, Rudy, a Rajput born in Bihar’s Patna, was locked in a direct fight with party colleague and ex-MP Sanjeev Balyan, a Jat born in Uttar Pradesh’s Muzaffarnagar.

At the start of the game, it appeared Rudy was disadvantageously placed. He has been in the position of the CCI secretary administration for 25 years now.

This, Balyan’s supporters say, encouraged the former Muzaffarnagar MP to throw his hat in the ring.

With two leaders from the BJP pitted against one another in a rare duel, the CCI elections generated an unusual interest in the political spectrum with stalwarts like Union Home Minister Amit Shah, former Congress chief Sonia Gandhi and incumbent Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge turning up to vote, raising the stakes for both sides.

While Shah was widely rumoured to have been backing Balyan who was openly supported by former’s close aide and sitting Godda MP Nishikant Dubey, Rudy had the support of the entire opposition and a section of the BJP.

Caste and regional battle lines remained firmly drawn in the CCI elections from day one with the majority of the voters acknowledging the role of community equations in the results – Rudy beat Balyan by 100 votes.

Many said community affiliations in favour of Rudy trumped party loyalty - a factor attributed to why despite a much speculated backing of Balyan by Shah, Rudy won comfortably.

The Shah factor also polarised the Congress-led opposition behind Rudy, a former minister who was dropped from Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led council of ministers in 2017 and has since remained on the margins of BJP power politics.

Just as Rajputs rallied behind Rudy, prominent Jat leaders from across Uttar Pradesh, mainly western UP, openly pledged their support to Balyan.

In fact murmurs in power corridors all through were that Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and former Uttarakhand CM Trivendra Singh Rawat, all prominent Rajputs from Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand, were tacitly supporting Rudy.

However, many prominent Rajput leaders did stand up to be counted. Former minister Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore came all the way from Jaipur to vote as did many other leading politicians from the community. On the other side too, leaders across parties from western UP voted for Balyan.

Former BSP leader and Bijnor MP Malook Nagar, who had switched camps to the RLD in 2024, openly backed and campaigned for Balyan.

Malook Nagar had hit headlines for being the richest candidate in the fray in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections in UP and continues to command formidable clout in western UP.

News was that politicians from Bihar also rose above party lines to vote for Rajiv Pratap Rudy, who, they said, was the son of the soil.

Many heads turned when former Gopalganj MP from Bihar Sadhu Yadav, brother-in-law of RJD supremo Lalu Yadav and brother of Rabri Devi, came all the way to New Delhi on August 12 to cast his vote, purportedly for Rudy as did many other leaders from Bihar.

In private conversations the MPs (all ex and sitting MPs can vote in CCI polls but only if they have paid the membership fee and registered) close to Rudy attributed his win to the transformation of the Club from a dilapidated to a sophisticated, sought-after space.

Rudy’s detractors, however, say the CCI has grown increasingly out of bounds even for MPs and prohibitive costs mean not all sitting MPs are its members. Membership fee at the CCI has risen multifold from Rs 500 in the mid-1980s to Rs 15,000 today and the Club’s gymnasium and sports club membership costs Rs 1 lakh. Turns out not all parliamentarians can afford this.