The BJP on Thursday announced an alliance with Rashtriya Loktantrik Party (RLP) for the Lok Sabha elections in Rajasthan after bringing the fledgling party, headed by Jat leader Hanuman Beniwal, within the NDA fold. Mr. Beniwal, 47, will contest the Lok Sabha polls from the Nagaur seat.
Mr. Beniwal, who was earlier a BJP MLA, was terminated from the party’s membership in 2011 after he fell out with former Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje. He was elected as an Independent MLA from Nagaur district’s Khinvsar constituency in 2013 and on the RLP ticket in 2018.
Union Human Resource Development Minister Pravash Javadekar, who is in charge of BJP’s election campaign in the State, said here that the RLP would be a part of the NDA and the party workers would campaign in support of BJP candidates in Rajasthan as well as in Haryana and western Uttar Pradesh.
Under the terms of alliance, the BJP has given only the Nagaur seat among the 25 Lok Sabha constituencies in the State to RLP. The alliance will benefit the BJP in Jodhpur, Pali, Barmer and Ajmer districts, where Mr. Beniwal wields a considerable influence and had organised massive “Hunkaar rallies” before the Assembly election.
The RLP won Khinvsar, Merta and Bhopalgarh seats in the Assembly polls.
Mr. Beniwal said he had made the poll pact with the BJP “in national interest” and to ensure that Narendra Modi became the Prime Minister again. “The support to the BJP is the need of the hour after the Pulwama terror attack. Only the BJP, under Mr. Modi's leadership, is capable of giving [a] befitting reply to countries like Pakistan and China,” he said.
Tie-up bid failed
The RLP chief was earlier reportedly in touch with some senior Congress leaders to explore the possibility of forging an alliance. The attempts could not make a headway because the Congress was not willing to give the number of seats which the RLP was demanding.
Mr. Beniwal will be pitted in Nagaur against the Congress candidate and former MP Jyoti Mirdha, who belongs to the politically influential Mirdha family of the region.