Politics

BJP Leader Criticizes Party’s Treatment of Rajputs Amid Bihar Council Election Fallout

By Amit Bhelari

Senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader and Saran Member of Parliament Rajiv Pratap Rudy said the BJP is not giving much importance to Rajputs and that no Rajput in Bihar has faith in any Rajput leaders. Rudy made the remarks in Chapra, Saran, on Tuesday, November 3, 2026, after the Bihar Legislative Council elections in which Janata Dal(United) candidate Anand Pushkar lost to independent candidate Rahul Raj, a Rajput from the Saran Teachers Constituency. "Some people are saying that if Rudy ji wanted, he (Rahul Raj) would have stepped aside. Today, no Rajput in Bihar has any faith in any politician. And do you really think the BJP gives enough importance to any Rajput that they would actually heed what that person says? That is something the party needs to understand," Rudy said. He added that it is up to the BJP to decide if a candidate steps aside when requested by Sigriwal ji (Janardan Singh Sigriwal, BJP MP from Maharajganj). He does not believe a Rajput leader in Bihar would agree to step aside just because another Rajput leader asks him to.

After the Council polls, JD(U) candidate Anand Pushkar, a Brahmin, alleged that the BJP betrayed him and that BJP MPs Rajiv Pratap Rudy, Sigriwal, and Radha Mohan Singh openly betrayed him. Pushkar said, "All the BJP MPs have committed a betrayal; Rajiv Pratap Rudy, Sigriwal, and Radha Mohan Singh have openly betrayed me," a day after the results were declared. Pushkar’s father, the late Kedar Nath Pandey, had represented the Saran Teachers Constituency seat four times on a Communist Party of India ticket.

A controversy has already erupted over the joining of the BJP by two independent MLCs, Bansidhar Brajwasi (Tirhut) and Rahul Raj. Brajwasi defeated JD(U) candidate Abhishek Jha in the Tirhut Graduates’ seat. The opposition party Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) demanded that both MLCs be disqualified under the anti‑defection law. On Wednesday, November 4, 2026, a delegation of the RJD, led by National General Secretary Abdul Bari Siddiqui, submitted a memorandum to the Acting Chairman of the Bihar Legislative Council, Ram Bachan Rai, regarding the disqualification of both MLCs.

When asked about Rahul Raj joining the BJP, Rudy said, "I do not want to comment on this. Under the leadership of Samrat Choudhary, good government is being run and we have the blessing of Nitish Kumar ji."

Rudy, a four‑term Lok Sabha member, was part of Narendra Modi’s cabinet after the 2014 general election but resigned from the Skill Development Ministry in September 2017 and has not held a ministerial post at the centre since. His differences with his own party became public in August 2025 when he defeated former Union Minister and BJP leader Sanjeev Balyan in a contested Constitution Club poll in New Delhi, a fight described as a BJP vs. BJP battle.

Social activist Thakur Bunty Singh, based in the Saran division, said, "In Saran Teachers Constituency Rajputs have the maximum numbers of MPs and MLAs, which includes nine MLAs, four MPs and two MLCs, yet there is no representation in the Bihar and central government from the Saran Teachers Constituency."