In battleground Rajasthan, Congress enters pact with RLP

Neeraj Mohan

New Delhi, March 24

As expected, the Congress party has sealed the pact with Hanuman Beniwal’s Rashtirya Loktantrik Party (RLP) for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections in Rajasthan.

The Congress on Saturday announced candidates for two more Lok Sabha seats from Rajasthan, apart from leaving Nagaur seat for the Rashtriya Loktantrik Party (RLP). Notably, Hanuman Beniwal is a prominent Jat leader from the region and former RLP MP from Nagaur.

Nagaur may witness a straight fight between two Jat stalwarts, as Beniwal is likely to take on BJP’s Jyoti Mirdha. A former Congress MP from Nagaur, Mirdga had recently joined the party. Beniwal had resigned as a LS MP from Nagaur after being elected as an MLA from Khinvsar in Nagaur in December last year.

The pact with RLP is being considered as shot in the arm for the Congress in the Jat-dominated constituencies of Rajasthan. If Beniwal contests, this will be a reversal of their roles in 2019 general elections when Mirdha had contested from Nagaur as a Congress candidate while Beniwal had contested as a RLP candidate, which was then a part of the BJP-led NDA. After defeating Mirdha, Beniwal had parted ways with the BJP over the issue of farm laws. Earlier, the Congress had sprung a surprise by leaving Sikar seat for its INDIA bloc partner CPI (M), which has fielded its national secretary Amra Ram as an alliance candidate from Sikar. Ram is set to take on BJP’s two-term Sikar MP Sumedhanand Saraswati.

As the political battleground of Rajasthan heats up, the Jat community, constituting nearly 15 per cent of the state’s population, emerges as a pivotal player, holding the key to electoral fortunes in several seats of the desert state. With both the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Congress vying for their allegiance, the stage is set for a high-stakes showdown.

The Congress, making strategic moves, recently scored a significant coup by roping in Ummeda Ram Beniwal, a senior RLP leader from Barmer, amplifying its Jat outreach. This follows a notable defection from the BJP camp, with two-time MP Rahul Kaswan’s entry into the Congress, bolstering the party’s prospects in the Jat stronghold of Shekhawati region.

Battlelines drawn

As the political battleground of Rajasthan heats up, the Jat community, constituting nearly 15 per cent of the state’s population, emerges as a pivotal player, holding the key to electoral fortunes in several seats of the desert state. With both the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Congress vying for their allegiance, the stage is set for a high stakes showdown.