Two months after Anta bypoll loss, BJP’s Morpal Suman alleges sabotage by Om Birla, others

He alleged that Om Birla’s entire team, “directly and indirectly”, campaigned against him, accusing them of distributing large sums of money to influential leaders in Baran and influencing the voters in favour of Congress candidate Pramod Jain Bhaya. The Anta Assembly constituency in Baran district shares its border with Kota, which Om Birla represents in the Lok Sabha.

The letter has also been marked to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, former party president J P Nadda, current party chief Nitin Nabin, BJP National General Secretary B L Santhosh, former CM Vasundhara Raje, Chief Minister Bhajan Lal Sharma and party state president Madan Rathore.

In his letter, Suman has also alleged that Manoj Sharma, the “business partner” of Rajasthan government’s Energy Minister Heeralal Nagar, “distributed money and induced voters of Nagar and Malav community in the support of Congress candidate Pramod Jain in Sangod”, adding that he briefed the district president about this.

Suman has also accused party’s former district president Anand Garg, Anta Pradhan Prakhar Kaushal and his team, former Anta Nagar Palika chairperson Rameshwar Khandelwal and his team, as well as Baran panchayat samiti up-pradhan Dharmendra Yadav and his team of working against him.

Among others, former MLA from Kota and Baran, Hemraj Meena, BJP’s Kisan Morcha president for Baran, Mukesh Dhakad, and party’s ST Morcha district president Dharmveer Meena have also been accused by Suman of working against him.

Suman claimed that “There was widespread discussion in the Anta Assembly that if Morpal Suman defeated Congress candidate Pramod Jain, then he had a strong chance of being appointed a minister. This prompted the three MLAs of the district, Pratap Singh Singhvi (Chhabra), Lalit Meena (Kishanganj), and Radheshyam Bairwa (Baran Atru), to collectively attempt to defeat me, both directly and indirectly.”

He said that most of the MLA ticket aspirants themselves “worked to defeat me and the party,” urging the party “to take disciplinary action against all of them for acting against the party.”

Last, he also blamed the Election Commission observer for not being fair as “The Congress candidate and the independent candidate used horse-drawn vehicles, elephants and DJ vehicles in large numbers.”

Bhaya won with 69,571 votes or a margin of 15,612 votes over Suman, who received 53,959 votes. Congress rebel Naresh Meena stood a close third with 53,800 votes, just 159 less than Suman.

Before the bypoll, Suman held various posts in the party. He belongs to the Mali community which wields considerable influence in the region. Beyond that, his proximity to the RSS and a low profile were also said to be two major reasons behind the party fielding him from Anta.

Following the loss in Anta, seven-time BJP MLA Pratap Singh Singhvi had alleged that the party had ignored him during campaigning even though his constituency, Chhabra, is also in Baran. Ahead of polling, Singhvi had also written to then BJP president and Union Minister J P Nadda, complaining that he had not been included in the list of star campaigners. He also alleged that though he was included in the poll committee for the bypoll, he was not contacted or assigned any responsibility.

That not all was well within the BJP in the area was apparent when ministers Heeralal Nagar and Madan Dilawar, who are from the area, did not join the campaign, which former CM Vasundhara Raje led after initial hesitation.