Rebel BJP leader to contest independently
BARMER: Rebel Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Ravindra Singh Bhati on Friday announced his candidature from the Barmer parliamentary seat.
Bhati’s announcement to go it alone in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections comes after several rounds of talks between him and Rajasthan chief minister Bhajan Lal Sharma failed to yield any result, said people familiar with the matter.
With the BJP fielding MP Kailash Choudhary and the Congress banking upon Ummedaram Beniwal, Bhati’s candidature has turned Barmer into a triangular contest. Beniwal had switched to Congress from Rashtriya Loktantrik Party only six days back. A similar situation occurred in 2014 when BJP leader Jaswant Singh had rebelled and contested the election from the seat against BJP’s Colonel Sonaram Choudhury and Congress candidate Harish Choudhary.
Bhati said: “I had already announced that I will take a decision only based on the views of my supporters and my people, and they want me to contest the elections, so I am doing that.” Bhati said during his meeting with the chief minister, he had raised issues related to his constituency, and “nothing else was discussed.”
He said, “For the last few days, I have been on a trip to Barmer parliamentary constituency and have visited many areas of Barmer, Jaisalmer, and Balotra districts, during which I received overwhelming support. I will contest the elections and take up the people’s issues.”
During the recently-held Rajasthan assembly elections, Bhati had announced his rebellion merely nine days after joining the BJP and contested the election independently from Sheo assembly seat in a four corner contest, defeating Congress rebel candidate Fatah Khan.
Chief minister Bhajan Lal Sharma who met Bhati several times, in Jaipur and Jodhpur, also flew him to Udaipur on his personal charter, where they also had dinner together, said the people familiar with the developments.