Veteran BJP leader floating own party in Rajasthan will hit saffron party

Veteran BJP leader Ghanshyam Tiwari’s decision to leave and set up his own party - Bharat Vahini party - is likely to harm the Rajasthan BJP by cutting into its upper caste votebank in the forthcoming Assembly elections. This decision of the former national executive member of the saffron party has embarrassed Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje as well as the BJP.

Tiwari, a six-time MLA who served as the state BJP unit’s vice-president, has been at loggerheads with the Chief Minister and her government for the past four and a half years. Tiwari, who is basically a leader of the Brahmin community, picked up the cudgel against Vasundhara Raje ever since he was excluded from her cabinet.

Tiwari was a minister in Vasundhara Raje’s cabinet between 2003 and 2008 and was even then critical of Raje. Tiwari has been demanding reservation for the economically backward section of upper caste people. Tiwari has been very critical of both the Chief Minister as well as the government and has been particularly targeting Vasundhara Raje for her authoritarian attitude. He has been levelling corruption charges against the Chief Minister. It needs to be mentioned here that she chose not to move into the official Chief Minister’s residence and opted to stay in another bunglow. When Raje combined two large adjoining bungalows with huge lawns to convert these into the Chief Minister’s official residence at considerable cost to the state exchequer, Tiwari questioned her move. He alleged that the Chief Minister occupied the two bungalows to enable her stay there after her chief ministership would be gone. He complained against the Chief Minister even to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and party president Amit Shah.

Raje further annoyed Tiwari by encouraging his rival in the Brahmin society, Ramcharan Bohra, by helping him win the 2014 Lok Sabha election from Jaipur. Since then, the relationship took an ugly and bitter turn. Bohra questioned Tiwari’s standing as the leader of the Brahmin community. Rajasthan has six per cent Bramhin voters. They have traditionally been BJP backers.

Apart from Tiwari, another BJP MLA Hanuman Beniwal has also turned a rebel and has become a bitter critic of Vasundhara Raje. He is a Jat and has been in touch with Tiwari. While Tiwari is trying to woo the upper castes, Beniwal is trying to woo the strong farming community of Jats both against the BJP and the Congress. It’s likely that the Tiwari and Beniwal duo will try and pose a challenge to both the ruling BJP and the Congress.

But Tiwari is on a sticky wicket as there are just nine Assembly constituencies where Brahmins dominate the vote share. In 18 other constituencies, the Brahmins are a number two or number three in terms of voters.

The Jats had backed the BJP in the last Assembly and Lok Sabha elections. Though the Jat community is without a prominent or effective leader, they are strongly placed to determine the outcome of 70 out of 200 Assembly constituencies. Beniwal is trying to emerge as a plausible opposition, a space already cornered by the Congress. He may find this task quite hard.

The ruling BJP is facing massive anti-incumbency and the new party floated by Tiwari can, at the best, harm the electoral prospects of the BJP. The saffron party may also lose a large chunk of its Brahmin votes to Tiwari’s Bharat Vahini Party.

“The letter written by Tiwari to BJP supremo Amit Shah is revealing. He has seen the government functioning from close quarters and has exposed large scale corruption in the administration. His revelations has exposed the BJP government and the Chief Minister. This will damage the BJP and the Congress will gain from it,” said Sachin Pilot, state Congress chief.

Ashok Gehlot, former Chief minister and AICC general secretary, said Tiwari was sidelined by Raje as he tried to raise his voice against her authoritarian style. The BJP would pay a heavy price for punishing a loyal party worker, he felt.

However, state BJP leaders maintain that Tiwari’s action is against the party and that he will not be able to do much damage.