BJP leader Jaswant Singh's son Manvendra to join Congress
Jaipur/Barmer, Oct 16: Veteran BJP leader Jaswant Singh's son and MLA Manvendra Singh will join the Congress on Wednesday, ahead of the assembly polls in Rajasthan in December.
Singh (54), who won Barmer's Sheo constituency as the BJP candidate in 2013 assembly elections, had announced at a rally last month that he is leaving the Bharatiya Janata Party.
Kamal ka Phool Badi Bhool', he had said then, claiming that going with the BJP's election symbol, the lotus, was a big mistake.
Congress leaders claimed his move will help bring Rajput votes to the party-fold while the BJP said the MLA's politically wrong decision will have no impact on the ruling party.
Manvendra Singh will join the Congress tomorrow in Delhi in the presence of party president Rahul Gandhi, Rajasthan Pradesh Congress Committee president Sachin Pilot told PTI Tuesday
There is a long list of leaders quitting the BJP and the party should introspect why this is happening, he said. We are welcoming Manvendra Singh and this will strengthen the party.
He added the party will ensure his active participation in the upcoming assembly elections in the state.
Rajasthan's Parliamentary Affairs Minister Rajendra Rathore claimed Singh's decision is a political misstep and he should have thought before switching sides.
The Congress is helpless. Therefore it is adopting sidelined BJP leaders. It is his personal decision but this is a politically wrong decision. He is not going to get anything with this, Rathore told reporters at Ranakpur in Pali.
As for the Rajput votes, Rathore said the community has traditionally voted for the BJP.
There will be no impact of this as the Rajput votes will remain with the BJP only, he said.
Fateh Khan, the president of the Barmer unit of the Congress, said the Rajputs are not happy with the Vasundhara Raje government in Rajasthan.
The Congress party is going to gain when Manvendra joins Congress, he said.
In western Rajasthan, the Rajput vote is often considered a deciding factor on many seats.
The Congress is also hoping to get the support of communities like the Rajpurohits, Charan's and Prajapat's with Singh joining the party.
Manvendra Singh won Barmer's Sheo assembly constituency in 2013 with a margin of 31,425 votes.
His father Jaswant Singh, who is in coma for the last four years, was denied ticket by the BJP from the Barmer-Jaisalmer constituency in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections.
He then contested elections as an independent and lost the seat to BJP's Sonaram, who had joined the party after switching from the Congress.
There was resentment among Jaswant Singh supporters over the denial of the BJP ticket for the veteran, and they blamed Vasundhara Raje for this.
These supporters had then rallied around his son Manvendra Singh, calling it an issue of swabhiman' or self-respect.
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Sujit Nair raises concerns over speculation of DMK-AIADMK understanding to block TVK
Chennai: Journalist and political commentator Sujit Nair has expressed concern over speculation that the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam and the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam could explore a post-poll understanding to prevent Vijay-led Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam from forming the government in Tamil Nadu.
In a social media post, Sujit Nair said the election verdict in Tamil Nadu reflected a clear public demand for political change and argued that the mandate should be respected irrespective of political preferences.
Referring to reports and political discussions surrounding a possible understanding between the DMK and AIADMK, he said he hoped such developments remained only speculative conversations and did not turn into reality.
Nair stated that if such an alliance were to take shape, it would raise serious questions about ideological politics in the country. He said TVK had emerged through a democratic electoral process and that the legitimacy to govern in a parliamentary democracy comes from the people’s verdict.
According to him, attempts to prevent an electoral winner from forming the government through unexpected political arrangements may be constitutionally valid, but many people could view them as politically opportunistic.
He further said that such a move could particularly affect the political image of the DMK, which has historically projected itself around ideology, social justice and opposition politics. Nair said that in ideological terms, the DMK appeared closer to TVK than to the AIADMK, and joining hands with its long-time political rival only to remain in power could weaken its broader political narrative.
He added that the same questions would apply to the AIADMK as well, as the party had spent decades positioning itself against the DMK and such an arrangement could create discomfort among its cadre and supporters.
Drawing a comparison with Maharashtra politics in 2019, Nair said he had expressed similar views when the Shiv Sena formed an alliance with the Indian National Congress and the Nationalist Congress Party after the Assembly elections.
He said post-poll alliances between long-standing political rivals often create a public perception that ideology and electoral mandates become secondary when political power equations come into play.
Nair also said such developments increase public cynicism towards politics and reinforce the belief among voters that ideology is often sidelined after elections.
He maintained that the Tamil Nadu verdict was emphatic and said respecting both the spirit and substance of the mandate was important for the credibility of democratic politics.
