RLP expecting to give close fight in 100 assembly seats in Rajasthan: Beniwal

Jaipur, Oct 15 (PTI) The Rashtriya Loktantrik Party expects to put up a close fight on around 100 of the total 200 assembly seats in Rajasthan in this year's election, party convenor Hanuman Beniwal has said.

Beniwal also said the RLP was in talks with parties other than the BJP and the Congress for a pre-poll alliance. He added that he was hopeful of forging an alliance and coming up with an election strategy in the next few days.

Polling in all the 200 assembly constituencies in Rajasthan will be held on November 25 and counting of votes will take place on December 3.

The BJP has so far announced candidates for 41 seats but the Congress is yet to come up with a list.

"I am in touch with other 'like-minded' parties to form a poll alliance which will emerge as an alternative to the BJP and the Congress," Beniwal said.

The RLP leader said it will not be a surprise if either the Congress or the BJP secures the third position in the assembly elections.

"We will be fighting the election on issues of farmers and the youths, corruption and paper leaks. I am expecting that the majority of new voters will vote for the RLP. There is huge resentment against the BJP over its apathy towards farmers and the Agnipath scheme. Lakhs of youths preparing for Army recruitment have anger against the Modi government," he added.

Beniwal said he will also contest in the assembly election but the seat has not been finalised yet. The RLP will be prominently focusing on seats in Shekhawati, Marwar and Mewar regions.

"I am expecting a close fight on around 100 seats in districts like Nagaur, Sikar, Jhunjhunu, Jodhpur, Barmer, Pali, Bharatpur, Karauli, Udaipur, Bikaner," he said.

The RLP contested 57 seats in the 2018 assembly elections.

The Jat leader said he had suggested Congress leader Sachin Pilot to launch his own party and join hands with him. He claimed that had Pilot formed a party and entered into an alliance with the RLP, they could have won a considerable number of seats together.

Beniwal also said that the youths would not vote for Pilot this time because the Congress government did nothing on the points he had raised. "He talked about issues of the youths but when the government decided not to hold student union elections this year, he did not say anything," the RLP leader said.

"Majority of the new voters will vote for the RLP," he asserted.

Attacking the BJP, Beniwal claimed that the party-led government at the Centre was misusing the Enforcement Directorate (ED) for political reasons and said the results of raids by the federal agency should be made public.

"There are many leaders who have joined the BJP for fear of the ED, CBI and the Income Tax department," Beniwal claimed, referring to former Nagaur MP Jyoti Mirdha.

Jyoti Mirdha, who comes from the Mirdha family that has been politically influential in Nagaur for decades, joined the BJP from the Congress last month.

"The family of her in-laws was on the ED's radar and therefore, she joined the BJP," the RLP leader alleged.

Beniwal launched his election campaign 'Satta Sankalp Yatra' last month from the Salasar Balaji temple in Churu and has been holding public meetings and road shows in various constituencies.

The third phase of his yatra will begin on Monday during which Beniwal will cover assembly constituencies in Nagaur, Jhunjhunu, Sikar and Neem ka Thana districts.

Reacting to BJP Rajya Sabha MP Kirodi Meena's allegation that former Rashtriya Loktantrik Party (RLP) leader Spardha Choudhary was involved in paper leak cases, Beniwal said that she was no longer associated with his party and has not been in touch for over two years.

Beniwal, a former BJP leader, alleged that Meena might have accepted a "contract" in Delhi to bring him closer to the saffron party but asserted that he would not ally with them.

"The person Kirodi Lal is talking about is no longer associated with RLP. She (Spardha Choudhary) was earlier in the Congress and when she was denied a ticket from the Congress in the 2018 assembly elections, she contested on an RLP ticket and lost. She is not associated with my party now," Beniwal told PTI.

At a press conference on Friday, Kirodi Meena alleged that Spardha Choudhary was involved in paper leak cases and claimed that the Enforcement Directorate had conducted searches at premises belonging to her.

"Kirodi Meena's pain is that he was not made a minister at the Centre. Will I make him a minister? He must have taken a 'contract' to bring Hanuman Beniwal closer to the BJP," the RLP leader alleged.

Beniwal was elected on a BJP ticket in 2008 and won in the 2013 Rajasthan assembly election as an independent. He formed the RLP ahead of the 2018 assembly elections and won three seats.

After Beniwal was elected as Lok Sabha MP from Nagaur in 2019 in alliance with the BJP, Nagaur's Khinvsar assembly seat fell vacant and his brother Narayan Beniwal won in the subsequent bypoll. PTI SDA IJT IJT