BAP MP refutes Congress’s 300-defection claim in Rajasthan, calls it political narrative

The Bharat Adivasi Party (BAP) has strongly denied the Congress’s claim that around 300 of its workers joined the Congress in Rajasthan. BAP founder and MP Rajkumar Roat said only a handful of individuals with past party links switched sides and accused the Congress of exaggerating the numbers to build a political narrative ahead of local body elections.

On Thursday, Congress leaders said about 300 BAP members had joined the party at former chief minister Ashok Gehlot’s residence in Jaipur. The members were seen wearing Congress scarves, and the event was projected as a sign that the BAP was losing ground in its tribal strongholds. However, BAP leaders dismissed the claim as misleading.

Roat said, “Congress needs to first decide whether it is fighting the BJP or the BAP. Congress leaders have been insecure about our positioning since the beginning. In the 2023 Dungarpur Nagar Palika elections, Congress supported the BJP to form a board. This has been their strategy for a long time. We need to focus on doing good work on the ground, not politicising the matter. Barring a few, no BAP members were present at the event at Gehlot’s house on Thursday. Some of those who did join the Congress were people who had been suspended from the BAP.”

BAP leaders also pointed to an earlier instance when Mahendrajeet Malviya left the Congress to join the BJP in March 2024, and more than 400 Congress workers from Banswara followed him. They contended that those now returning to the Congress were not BAP members but belonged to the BJP. According to BAP leaders, the Congress is attempting to create an impression that the party is weakening ahead of the Panchayati Raj and urban local body elections.

Meanwhile, the Rajasthan government and the State Election Commission have informed the Rajasthan High Court of the schedule for the upcoming urban local body and Panchayat elections, after which the court disposed of a petition on the matter. As per the schedule, the OBC Commission will submit its report on reservation for OBC seats by August 5. The detailed notification for urban local body elections will be issued on August 17, with nominations beginning on August 22, and the entire process scheduled to be completed by September 20.

For Panchayat elections, the notification will be issued on September 23, and the election process is set to be completed by November 15. The state government’s timeline for the two sets of polls has drawn criticism from Congress spokesperson Swarnim Chaturvedi, who alleged that the delay was unnecessary. Referring to the BJP’s “One Nation, One Election” proposal, Chaturvedi said that a party that cannot conduct local body elections together should not dream of holding nationwide elections simultaneously.

The Congress has not officially responded to BAP’s rebuttal, and the BJP is yet to react to Chaturvedi’s remarks.