New Delhi: Banswara will have a triangular fight after the Congress twice saw its candidates do a volte-face as negotiations with the Rajasthan-based Bharat Adivasi Party (BAP) went on till the eleventh hour over the allotment of seats for the Lok Sabha elections.
What has added to the Congress’s embarrassment is that Arvind Damor, contesting from Banswara, as well as Kapoor Singh, its Bagidora assembly bypoll candidate, refused the diktat to leave the field in favour of the BAP.
Though Damor and Singh were suspended for anti-party activities for six years for refusing to withdraw nomination Monday, the damage was done in the two seats.
The Congress had carried out hectic talks with the BAP till Sunday night before it announced the agreement to allot the two seats to the tribal party.
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“The BJP only took advantage of the Congress infighting to make the fight triangular in the tribal dominated seat of Banswara. The infighting helped us as a section of the Congress did not want the tribal party to flourish at the expense of the party. There was no synchronisation between Delhi and local leadership (of the Congress). Delhi wanted an alliance, while many local leaders were against it,” a BJP functionary told ThePrint.
Banswara will see Damor, Mahendrajeet Singh Malviya of the BJP, and Rajkumar Roat of the BAP among others locking horns. Malviya, a Congress defector, is likely to gain from the votes cut by Damor when the election takes place on 26 April.
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How drama unfolded
As the Congress in Rajasthan was discussing alliance with the BAP which holds significant presence in two tribal dominated seats of Banswara and Dungarpur, the regional party was adamant to contest on more than two seats.
The Congress announced former Rajasthan minister and Banswara MLA Arjun Singh Bamaniya as its candidate on the last day of nomination on 4 April, while Youth Congress general secretary Arvind Damor was kept on standby as the dummy candidate.
But at the last minute, Bamaniya backed out leaving the field open for Damor to file nomination and thereby becoming the official candidate.
The next twist came after the Congress arrived at an understanding with the BAP. On Sunday night, Congress-in-charge for Rajasthan Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa announced support to BAP’s Rajkumar Roat in Banswara.
Another decision was taken to support BAP’s Jai Krishna Patel at the Bagidora assembly seat, which fell vacant after Mahendrajeet Singh Malviya switched from the Congress to the BJP in February. The bypoll will take place on 26 April.
Roat, who got elected as MLA in Rajasthan recently, welcomed the decision on Sunday night but the twist came Monday — last day of withdrawal of nomination — when Damor was nowhere to be seen.
The BAP alleges that the entire operation was engineered on the behest of BJP candidate Malviya. “It was done on the behest of Malviya who influenced the Congress candidate and the latter did not turn up for withdrawal of nomination. Now it’s up to the Congress to decide how it will fulfil coalition dharma as its candidate is cutting votes to benefit the BJP,” BAP MLA Umesh Meena told ThePrint.
Although Malviya refutes BAP allegation, he told ThePrint that ”it’s the Congress and BAP internal infighting due to which their candidate did not turn up for withdrawal of nomination”.
“The Congress was determined to defeat the BAP. Our party is campaigning with full energy to win this seat. Their house is not in order and they are complaining against the BJP. They should first set their house in order.”
Twist & turns
Before the Sunday announcement of the BAP-Congress understanding, a section of Congress leaders is said to have ganged up to make the road easier for Malviya.
This, the BJP insiders said, was amply seen when Bamaniya refused to contest just before three hours were left for filing nominations on 4 April and put pressure to make Damor the candidate.
On his part, Bamaniya claimed that he cleared himself so that a young face could be fielded from the seat. “I dropped out after the Youth Congress leaders approached urging me to leave the seat for Damor,” he told ThePrint.
BJP insiders told ThePrint that Damor was whisked away to Ahmedabad, Gujarat, and got his phone switched off on Sunday night so that he remained unreachable Monday, the last day of the withdrawal of the nominations.
A BJP MLA conceded to ThePrint that “in politics, such things are not unheard of during elections”. “Sometimes, such operations are necessary to win elections. Everything is justified in war. The Congress candidate enjoyed our hospitality.”
A Congress district leader told ThePrint that there was a “pre-planned strategy” to spoil the chances of the BAP in the constituency.
“A few Congress MLAs don’t want to lose space to the BAP as the tribal party got three assembly seats in two districts. They came second in five seats, and they were hand in glove with the BJP to defeat our candidates. We have also complained to the high command against the unethical behaviour of Congress MLA (Bamaniya),” he said.
Damor, who surfaced Monday night, alleged that Bamaniya fielded him despite knowing that an alliance was formed on this seat. “If I have to withdraw, I should had been taken into confidence. Why was I made a fool?” he told the media. “In politics, everything is justified.”
Interestingly, a similar scenario had played out in 2019 when BJP’s Kanakmal Katara won from Banswara by trouncing Tarachand Bhagora of the Congress. Katara’s victory was made easier as the votes were divided among the Congress, the BAP and the BSP.
The BJP was in dire need of a strong candidate in Banswara as the Congress won five assembly constituencies in the district, while the BJP and the BAP won two and one, respectively.
As Malviya found the tide turning against him, the BJP found a suitable candidate in him for the seat. Once the Congress’s tribal face in south Rajasthan, the four-time MLA is said to have got disillusioned once the party ignored him for the post of the leader of the opposition in the assembly.
A Rajasthan BJP functionary told ThePrint that the infighting in the Congress has made the contest easier in Banswara. “The BAP got more than 3 lakh votes in the assembly election and after alliance with the Congress, it was a difficult seat. But now a triangular fight suits us,” the BJP functionary said.
(Edited by Tony Rai)