Amid INDIA ally RLP’s ‘discontent’, Congress says ‘all okay’ as Kharge reaches out to Beniwal

However, Beniwal had on Friday expressed his resentment over not being called to INDIA bloc meetings before and after the Lok Sabha poll results on June 1 and 5 respectively, claiming that the Congress had managed to open its account in Rajasthan thanks to the RLP. He had also asked when smaller allies from the South could be invited for these meetings, why not him.

A prominent Jat leader, Beniwal, 52, won from the Nagaur parliamentary seat for the second consecutive time by defeating the BJP’s Jyoti Mirdha by 42,225 votes. In 2019, he had won the seat in alliance with the BJP. However, he later parted ways with the BJP over the now-repealed central farm laws.

“I have a complaint that in INDIA alliance’s meetings, at the behest of some Congress party leaders, I was intentionally humiliated (by not being invited). But Hanuman Beniwal doesn’t care about these things, he started alone and has the power – an entire army (of supporters) stands with me in Rajasthan,” Beniwal had told reporters.

The Congress-led alliance won 11 of Rajasthan’s 25 seats in the elections, which ended a ten-year drought for the party in the Lok Sabha polls. The BJP bagged 14 seats, while the Congress won 8 with its alliance partners – the RLP, CPI(M) and Bharat Adivasi Party (BAP) – winning one seat each.

In sharp contrast, the Congress had drawn a blank in the 2014 and 2019 polls, when the BJP had swept the state winning 25 and 24 seats, respectively.

Beniwal said the Congress leaders “boasted” that they brought 11 seats in Rajasthan “but don’t I have a role in these 11?” He said that he got 3 lakh votes of the Congress which helped him win from Nagaur, but added that the RLP also transferred 20 lakh votes to the Congress that helped the grand old party to make a comeback in the parliamentary polls in the state.

Beniwal however added that as the news about his concern reached Congress national president Mallikarjun Kharge, the latter called him and said it was a mistake. “I had reacted (for being overlooked for INDIA meetings) and said why was I not invited when even smaller parties from the South were invited. This (news) reached Kharge saheb and he called and said that they had made a mistake,” he said.

The RLP president said that even if he is not called to the next INDIA meeting, he will not switch his allegiance to the ruling BJP-led NDA alliance and that his priority is to oppose and get the Agniveer scheme repealed. “The mandate given to me by the people is that I have to fight against the BJP, NDA. I will fight that fight, and will oppose the Agniveer scheme,” he said.