Two prominent Jat leaders from the Shekhawati region of Rajasthan, Subhash Maharia and Hari Singh, will come back to the fold of the Congress at a function at AICC headquarters in New Delhi on Thursday. The event is being touted as a “befitting answer” of the Congress to the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party.
Former Union Minister Mr. Maharia, originally with a Congress background, was expelled from the BJP when he contested the 2014 Lok Sabha election from Sikar as an Independent candidate. Dr. Singh, a former MP from Sikar, had resigned from the Congress in 2011 and subsequently joined the BJP in 2013.
The Opposition Congress plans to project the re-entry of the two leaders in its fold as an answer to the BJP which had recently lured former Uttar Pradesh Congress Committee president Rita Bahuguna Joshi to its fold and made her quit her MLA's post. The induction ceremony will be organised before the national media.
AICC general secretary in charge of Rajasthan Gurudas Kamat, Rajasthan Pradesh Congress president Sachin Pilot and Leader of Opposition Remeshwar Dudi will be present at the function.
Mr. Pilot is said to have been instrumental in bringing the two leaders back to the party.
Mr. Maharia had a series of meetings recently with Mr. Pilot and former Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot, fuelling speculation that he would soon be joining the Congress to begin his new political innings.
Fifty-nine-year-old former Union Minister, enjoying the support of farmers of Shekhawati region, has been criticising the BJP government in the State and allegedly made all attempts to weaken the party in the panchayat and urban local body elections through his political acumen.
He was the first to win the Sikar Lok Sabha seat on BJP ticket in 1998 and was re-elected to 13th Lok Sabha in 1999, when he was appointed the Union Minister of State for Rural Development.
Sikar-based political analyst Ashfaq Kayamkhani told The Hindu that since Mr. Maharia was considered close to the traditional vote bank of the Congress, comprising Dalits and minorities, these votes would consolidate in favour of the Congress if the party fields him as a candidate in the next Lok Sabha elections.
On the other hand, Dr. Singh had left Congress in 2011 during the Congress regime following serious differences with the then Chief Minister Mr. Gehlot. He was known for openly criticising Mr. Gehlot, his team of Ministers and the party functionaries.
Dr. Singh's re-entry into the Congress fold is likely to meet with scepticism within the party and make the Gehlot camp unhappy. The second generation of Jat leaders may also find it hard to accept his new status in the party.
Both Mr. Pilot and Mr. Dudi have welcomed the decision of the two leaders to come back to the fold of the Congress and said it would strengthen the party by helping it win the confidence of the farming community. Mr. Dudi said the ruling BJP in the Centre and the State had ignored farmers and even failed to give them proper compensation for loss of crops.
