Eye on Rajasthan’s Bishnoi, Jat votes, BJP woos Bhajan Lal, Devi Lal families in Haryana

In another development, the BJP has recently appointed former Haryana chief minister Bhajan Lal’s son Kuldeep Bishnoi as the party co-incharge for the Rajasthan Assembly polls. Kuldeep joined the party in 2022, after revolting against the Congress by casting his vote for a BJP-backed Independent candidate, Kartikeya Sharma, in the Rajya Sabha polls.

The developments appear to be aimed at wooing Rajasthan’s Bishnoi and Jat voters, who — according to the community leaders — have a significant presence in nearly 80 of 200 Assembly seats.

For some time now, the BJP has been wooing the political dynasties of Devi Lal and Bhajan Lal, which have significant influence among certain castes or areas of Haryana as well as neighbouring states including Rajasthan.

While Devi Lal was the tallest Jat leader for a long time, Bhajan Lal enjoyed great respect among Bishnois during his 54-year-long political career.

In the 1989 parliamentary polls, Devi Lal had defeated the Congress leader Balram Jakhar from Sikar constituency of Rajasthan on a Janata Dal ticket, besides winning Haryana’s Rohtak seat. Keeping in view the significant presence of Jat voters, Haryana Deputy CM Dushyant Chautala of the Jannayak Janta Party (JJP) — Devi Lal’s great-grandson — also has plans of contesting in the Rajasthan Assembly polls, “preferably in alliance with the BJP”. The JJP is an alliance partner of the BJP in the Haryana government.

Dushyant’s father Ajay Chautala was elected to the Rajasthan Assembly twice — the first time from Data Ram Garh in 1989, and then from Nohar in 1993 (both times on Janata Dal tickets).

In 2003, when Ajay’s father Om Prakash Chautala was the Haryana CM, his party, the INLD, had won six seats in Rajasthan. In 2008, the INLD contested the Assembly election in alliance with the BJP, but lost all four seats it was allotted.

Ranjit Chautala, the younger brother of Om Prakash, had announced his support for the BJP while the counting of votes in the 2019 Assembly polls was underway, just when it appeared the BJP could fall short of the majority in the 90-member Assembly. Ranjit won the election by nearly 20,000 votes and was given the portfolios of Power, Jails and Renewable Energy in the Manohar Lal Khattar government.

Ranjit never kept his liking for the BJP a secret, stating: “I will do politics of the future with the BJP.” Keen to contest the 2024 polls — Assembly or Lok Sabha — as a BJP nominee, he had earlier told The Indian Express: “(Being an Independent MLA), technically, I can’t be a member of the BJP at this stage, but there is no difference between me and the BJP. I will support the BJP without any condition, whether the party fields me in the elections or not. I will stand by the CM like a rock and continue to be associated with the party in the future.”

According to sources, Ranjit had played a significant role in the induction of Kuldeep Bishnoi in the BJP, after he had suggested Kuldeep to vote for Kartikeya Sharma in the Rajya Sabha polls last year. It is learnt that Ranjit had told Kuldeep the BJP may give him a suitable role in the party while sending him to campaign for its candidates in Rajasthan’s Bishnoi-dominated seats. When asked about his vote in the RS polls, Kuldeep had told The Indian Express, “I listened to my soul and acted on my morals.”

Kuldeep is now raising the demand for induction of the Bishnoi community in the central government’s list of backward castes, which could avail reservation in government jobs and academic admissions. Bhajan Lal’s younger son calls it “the Bishnoi community’s biggest demand”. As a show of strength, Kuldeep is also keen to hold a rally in Haryana and Rajasthan — seeking to invite Amit Shah to both.

Kuldeep’s Haryana Janhit Congress (HJC) had joined hands with the BJP in 2011, but the alliance broke up ahead of the 2014 Assembly polls. In 2016, Kuldeep had merged his party with the Congress after meeting Rahul Gandhi.