Caste leaders may dent BJP chances in Rajasthan

Jaipur, Sept. 25: Former union minister Jaswant Singh’s son and Sheo MLA Manvendra Singh is the latest among the disgruntled leaders who might dent the BJP’s hold among key communities ahead of the Assembly elections, party workers say.

Manvendra Singh, who announced Saturday he is quitting the party, is said to have a significant influence in the Rajput community in western Rajasthan.

The others leaders who could make a difference in the BJP’s caste equations in the state include Brahmin MLA Ghanshyam Tiwari, firebrand Jat leader Hanuman Beniwal and Gujjar agitation’s poster boy Kirori Singh Bainsla. Like Manvendra Singh, they all have expressed resentment against the Bharatiya Janata Party, with which they once identified. Manvendra Singh claimed that the ‘ swabhiman’ of the Rajput community was hurt when the BJP did not give his father and veteran leader Jaswant Singh the ticket to contest the 2014 Lok Sabha polls. Mr Singh is now likely to contest the Lok Sabha polls from Barmer and may field his wife from his Sheo Assembly seat.

Observers say the scion of the erstwhile Jasol royal family may eat into the BJP vote, riding on “sympathy” for his father in the Rajput community, often considered to be a BJP vote bank. Six- time BJP MLA Ghanshyam Tiwari has been opposing the party leadership within the Assembly. After being served notice by the BJP for indiscipline, the popular Brahmin leader resigned from BJP.