Jaipur, Feb 19 (PTI) In a significant political development, Mahendrajeet Singh Malviya — a four-time Congress MLA and senior leader from Rajasthan’s tribal belt — on Monday joined the BJP, saying he sought development for his region and targeting the Congress leadership for refusing to attend the Ram temple consecration ceremony.
Malviya also resigned from the House, with an assembly spokesperson confirming that he presented his resignation to the assembly secretary on Monday.
Hitting back at Malviya, the Congress’ Rajasthan unit chief Govind Singh Dotasra alleged that he was involved in anti-party activities.
He was even made a Congress Working Committee (CWC) member but ditched the party. His switch will have no impact on the Congress and a new leadership will come up in the region, he said.
Malviya, who is also a former MP, reached the BJP’s state headquarters where he was welcomed by the party’s Rajasthan in-charge Arun Singh, state unit chief CP Joshi and other leaders.
He said there is a double-engine government in Rajasthan, referring to the BJP dispensations in the state and at the Centre.
“Development is a big issue. There is a double-engine government here. The state and the country are transforming and the entire world is watching,” he told reporters before a joint press conference at the party office.
Malviya, who represented the Bagidora seat in Banswara district, said he was joining the BJP for the development of Vagad region.
Vagad is the tribal region of south Rajasthan comprising Banswara and Dungarpur districts.
The veteran leader said he met BJP chief JP Nadda and Union Home Minister Amit Shah in Delhi on Sunday and added that he was influenced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s address during the saffron party’s national convention.
Targeting the Congress, Malviya said he was hurt by the party’s refusal to attend the consecration ceremony at the Ram temple in Ayodhya.
“With full devotion, I am joining the BJP,” he said at a press conference at the party office.
“There is no one else who can work in the tribal area except the BJP and Modi,” he added.
Joshi said Malviya decided to join the BJP after being impressed by the policies and works of the Modi government.
He further said the Modi government brought development to the tribal region — be it by constructing highways, opening bank accounts, and through the Ujjwala scheme, among others.
Malviya has been an MLA since 2008. He was a Cabinet minister from 2008 to 2013 and again from 2021 to 2023. He was elected to the Lok Sabha on a Congress ticket from Banswara in 1998.
He was earlier associated with the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) — the students’ wing of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS).
Praising the Modi government, Malviya said India’s standing has risen globally and the entire world has seen the country’s emergence under the prime minister.
He added that India is moving on the path of development at a fast pace.
Malviya also praised Modi for visiting Mangarh Dham in November and paying homage to unsung tribal heroes and freedom fighters. He also raised a demand to assign the status of “national monument” to Mangarh Dham.
Later, he told reporters that he joined the BJP on the issue of development.
Asked if he had been given any assurances for the Lok Sabha polls, Malviya said he will no longer be a Congress MLA and refused to answer if he will contest the general elections.
Joshi said Malviya joined the party without condition.
The BJP swept to power in Rajasthan in the assembly elections late last year. The saffron party had won 115 seats while the Congress, which governed the state between 2018 and 2023, managed victory from 70.
Malviya’s switch to the BJP and his subsequent resignation as a member of the House will necessitate a bypoll for his Bagidora seat.
Shortly after Malviya joined the BJP, the Congress’ Dotasra claimed he was involved in anti-party activities and was damaging the party in his region.
“He was made a CWC member. He had said that the Congress was his mother and he would never leave the party. Today, he has joined BJP and it shows his mass support is weakening and he is trying to regain it,” he said.
On the Congress’ decision to skip the consecration ceremony at the Ram temple last month, he said the party leadership never asked any leader or worker not to go to Ayodhya.
Dotasra alleged that by making Congress leaders join the BJP, the saffron party is trying to create a perception that the Congress is weak.
He asserted that Malviya’s switch will have no negative impact on the Congress.
“This will create space for a new leadership to develop in the region,” he added. PTI SDA AG SZM
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