Raj Cong MLA Mahendrajeet Singh Malviya likely to join BJP: Sources

JAIPUR: Congress MLA and former Rajasthan Cabinet Minister Mahendrajeet Singh Malviya is likely to join the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), delivering a major blow to the party in the state ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, according to the sources. According to sources, Malviya is not 'happy' with the Congress.

Notably, Malviya did not come to Jaipur during the filing of the nomination papers of Sonia Gandhi as a Congress candidate from Rajasthan for the Rajya Sabha elections on February 14. Malviya currently represents the Bagidora Assembly seat in the Banswara district.

As a tribal leader from southern Rajasthan, where the BJP is considered to have a stronger footing than the Congress, his inclusion can assume significance before the forthcoming Lok Sabha polls in the state. The Bagidora Assembly seat is part of the Mewar region, which largely spans the old districts of Bhilwara, Banswara, Chittorgarh, Pratapgarh, Rajsamand and Udaipur, before the reorganisation of districts on August 4.

Malviya first became an MLA in 2008, defeating the Janata Dal (United)'s Jeetmal Khant by 45,000 votes. In 2003, Khant had defeated Malviya by 6,000 votes. Despite strong anti-incumbency in 2013, when the Congress was reduced to just 21 seats, Malviya had retained his seat by defeating the BJP's Khemraj Garasiya. He defeated Garasiya again in 2018.

In 2020, Malviya's name had cropped up in an FIR lodged in connection with the attempt to topple the Ashok Gehlot government that year by Tonk MLA Sachin Pilot and his group of loyalist MLAs. The case pertained to purported audio clips, which were leaked during that year's political crisis, in which few people were heard saying that Malviya was with Pilot but has changed sides.