Last week, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) chief Mohan Bhagwat and yoga guru Ramdev all converged at the Baba Mastnath Math in Haryana’s Rohtak to pay their respects to the BJP’s former Alwar MP Mahant Chand Nath. All three also heaped praises on “Baba” Balak Nath, the incumbent BJP MP from Alwar who succeeded Chand Nath as Mahant before the latter died in 2017. This signifies the importance the BJP-Sangh’s top leaders attach to the MP who is among the party’s parliamentarians from Rajasthan in the fray in next month’s Assembly elections. While Balak Nath may have the approval of the BJP’s top leaders, his candidacy from Tijara in Alwar has triggered protests from local leaders angry at being overlooked. Former BJP MLA Maman Singh Yadav, a retired teacher who represented the seat from 2013 to 2018, has announced he will contest the elections as an Independent after being denied a ticket. Yadav is among several BJP leaders who have openly criticised the party after being denied ticket, illustrating that one of the BJP's biggest challenges this election will be staying united and on message. Soon after Balak Nath’s candidature was announced, videos went viral on social media in which a tearful Yadav said he would contest the election if the public asked him to and otherwise he would leave Tijara. Eventually, it was decided at a panchayat meeting that Yadav would contest as an Independent. Since then, the former legislator has been busy touring the constituency, drawing crowds and reminding people that the only election the BJP won in Tijara was with him as the candidate. Yadav was denied a ticket in 2018, too, but he didn’t contest the elections. “Baba ji is not going to win the elections under any circumstances. If you help me, I will make Baba ji lose his deposit. No person can make him win. I have seen the public’s mood,” Yadav said while campaigning in the area on Sunday. The communities that are electorally significant in Tijara are Meo Muslims (around 65,00-70,000 voters), Yadavs (52,000-55,000 voters), and Scheduled Castes (30,000-35,000 voters). The BJP is hoping to placate Yadav and convince him to withdraw. “Maman Singh Yadav is still in the BJP and we hope that after talking to the high command he will respect their opinion and won’t contest the elections,” Alwar North BJP president Umed Singh Bhaya told The Indian Express. However, at the moment, Yadav seems unpacified as he keeps publicly attacking Balak Nath and labelling him an outsider. “If you bring Baba, then don’t dream of your own MLA in the future. Do you want to stop the political future of Tijara’s youth? I will become older before the next elections and from then onwards it will be the youth. For the future of the youth, it was decided by all communities in Tijara that I contest the elections,” Yadav said. Balak Nath, who was born in a Yadav family in Alwar district, is also the Chancellor of the Baba Mastnath University in Rohtak. During the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, UP CM Adityanath visited Alwar to campaign for him. In 2022, after the local administration demolished a temple in Alwar, the MP organised massive protests against the Congress government. At a rally, he compared the ruling party to the Mughals. In 2018, Sandeep Kumar Yadav won Tijara. He was earlier with the BJP but won on a ticket of the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP). In 2019, he was among the six BSP MLAs who switched to the Congress. While the Congress has yet to announce its candidate from Tijara, senior leader Aimaduddin Ahmad Khan has been an MLA from the seat three times in the past and is among the likely candidates. The BSP has already announced Imran Khan as its candidate.
