‘Padmavat’ Row: Rajput community organizations declare support for Congress in Rajasthan by-elections

Jaipur: Traditionally the vote bank of BJP, Rajputs in Rajasthan are all set to show their teeth to the ruling party ahead of the bypolls. Some Rajput organizations openly declared their support to Raghu Sharma, the Congress candidate for Ajmer parliamentary seat.

The community is at loggerheads with the government over several issues including Anandpal Singh encounter case, Padmavati row and reservation.

Some Rajput community organizations convened a meeting in Rajput Sabha Bhawan in Jaipur on Sunday and unanimously reached a decision to support Sharma in Ajmer and Congress candidates in Alwar and Mandalgarh.

The Rajput community leaders accused BJP of backstabbing and said that the party no longer remembered the community’s contribution in its victory over the years.

Giriraj Singh Lotwada, Hanuman Singh Khangta, Ranjeet Singh Sodala, Mahipal Singh Makrana, Karan Rathore and Pratap Singh Khachariawas were among the community leaders who attended the meeting.

They said that as per agreement reached on the issue of Anandpal Singh encounter case, the CBI probe was to be ordered in only two of the three FIRs, but the state government recommended a probe into the violence after the encounter to frame community leaders.

Though the Rajasthan government has banned Padmavat, the community leaders said that the government was not doing enough to stop the movie’s release.

Congress president Sachin Pilot seized the opportunity to bring the community to the party’s fold. He thanked the community and its leaders for their decision to support Congress candidates in the by elections.

Sharma is pitted against late MP Sanwar Mal Jat’s son Ramswaroop Lamba in Ajmer. Karan Singh Yadav of Congress will fight against Jaswant Singh Yadav of BJP in Alwar. Congress has fielded Vivek Dhakar against BJP’s Shakti Singh Hada in Mandalgarh.

The voting will take place on January 29 and the counting of votes on February 2.