New Delhi: The Congress in Rajasthan has lost the support of a tribal party, the Bharatiya Tribal Party (BTP), after the former joined hands with its archrival, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), to deny the BTP the posts of zila pramukh and panchayat samiti chiefs in local polls.
While the Congress high command has gone into damage control mode seeking an explanation from the Rajasthan Congress about this tie-up with the BJP, the BTP with its two MLAs in the state has withdrawn support to the Ashok Gehlot government.
Seven-time Gujarat MLA Chhotubhai Vasava’s party, founded in 2017, had stood with the Congress on two crucial occasions — the 2017 Rajya Sabha biennial election in Gujarat when then BJP president Amit Shah had put in his might to defeat Ahmed Patel unsuccessfully, and during then ex-deputy CM Sachin Pilot’s rebellion against Ashok Gehlot that threatened to dislodge the Congress government in Rajasthan five months ago.
The BTP, which has a fair presence among the Bhil community in Rajasthan and Gujarat, has also ended its alliance with the Congress in Gujarat.
Speaking to ThePrint, Vasava said, “Congress and the BJP are nothing but two sides of the same coin. They are all anti-tribal. This is why they did not support us during the Lok Sabha elections and now they have cheated us in Rajasthan. This is why we decided to sever our ties with the party in Rajasthan as well as Gujarat.”
The party had contested four Lok Sabha seats in 2019 but Vasava complains it did not get the support of the Congress then either.
Looking to arrest the situation, the Congress central leadership has sought a response from the state unit.
According to sources, Rajasthan Congress in-charge Ajay Maken has asked state unit chief Govind Singh Dotasra to explain the entire situation and the chain of events. The leadership has also distanced itself from the events pointing out that the “pact” was made at the local level and doesn’t reflect the policy of the party at the state or the central level.
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This is what happened in Rajasthan
In Rajasthan’s Dungarpur zila parishad election, newly-elected Congress members voted for the BJP nominee for the pramukh’s post in the district board formation last week. Not just this, at the block level in the Pratapgarh zila parishad, local BJP and Congress leaders helped each other grab the positions of pradhan at the panchayat samiti level.
In the 27-seat Dungarpur zila parishad polls, 13 BTP-supported independents had won while the BJP got eight and Congress six. However, with the majority mark at 14, the BTP was unable to form the board despite emerging as the single largest party.
The Congress did not field its candidate for pramukh. The Rajasthan BJP said a party worker, Surya Ahari, was fielded as an independent candidate against BTP’s Parvati. Ahari won with the Congress support, getting the combined 14 votes of BJP and Congress.
According to Vasava, this is the first time in Rajasthan politics that the BJP and the Congress came together to defeat another party.
The BJP and Congress leaders, however, justified the move by pointing out that the call was made by leaders at the local level and had no involvement of the state leadership.
“Anti-defection law doesn’t apply at this level so local leaders do their own calculation and arrive at some sort of understanding and they inform the state leadership about it. While in Dungarpur we have a BJP zila pramukh, at the block level BJP has also supported the Congress to have its panchayat samiti pradhan in Pratapgarh district,” said a senior BJP leader, who didn’t wish to be named.
BJP’s Rajasthan chief Satish Poonia also maintained that the call was taken at the local level and has no bearing on the state politics. “Looking at the merit and demerit of the situation, a decision was taken by the local party workers. This kind of compromise is done at times. But it is in no way a reflection of our politics at the state or central level,” said Poonia.
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Reason behind Congress support to BJP
According to sources, the local leadership of the Congress in Rajasthan decided to support the BJP candidate as it is concerned over the rise of the BTP among the tribals in the state.
The BTP derives its strength especially from Bhils, a sect of tribals in Rajasthan, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra and is one of the largest Adivasi groups in the country.
It is the consolidation of Bhils that has been giving sleepless nights to the Congress and the BJP in Rajasthan and, partly, in Gujarat.
“Tribals have traditionally supported the Congress and over a period of time BTP has started consolidating its position. Vasava has projected himself as a tribal leader fighting for the cause of the tribals. In future, if they continue in this manner, it will hurt the party,” said a senior Congress leader, who didn’t wish to be named.
“The fact that they have decided to withdraw their support from the government in Rajasthan and have also severed their ties with the party in Gujarat means the tribal vote will now get split between three parties and it is the BJP that is going to gain,” added the leader.
Vasava, who was with the JD(U) until he launched his own party, had taken centre stage in 2017 after he became the trump card for the Congress during the Rajya Sabha elections as his vote sealed the victory of late Congress leader Ahmed Patel. The BTP also won two seats each in the legislatures of Gujarat and Rajasthan.
“He served as the JD(U) MLA and decided to side with Sharad Yadav after the split in the party. In 2017, after forming the party, it contested Gujarat elections with support from the Congress. The party contested on five seats and managed to win two seats. In Rajasthan too, it went on to win two seats,” said the Congress leader quoted above.
The extent of Bhils’ importance can be gauged from the fact that the community serves as the deciding factor in 23 assembly segments and three parliamentary seats in south Rajasthan — Udaipur, Banswara-Dungarpur and Chittorgarh. Out of these, 18 assembly seats are reserved for STs.
As Bhils are a dominant tribe, both the Congress and the BJP have been trying to garner their support.
End of Gujarat alliance
In Gujarat, the district panchayats of Narmada and Bharuch are governed by a Congress-BTP coalition. Vasava has now decided to end this alliance as well.
“There is a complete anti-tribal policy and mentality being followed by the government whether in the country or in Gujarat. Chhotubhai Vasava has to decide whether he wants to hurt the tribals or wants to work for their welfare and hence has to decide where he wants to be,” said Gujarat Congress chief spokesperson Manish Doshi.
According to sources, the move will affect the Congress in Gujarat and it has the potential of hurting its prospects on five assembly seats, and in two district panchayats and five taluka panchayats, among others.
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