3 min readJaipurJul 31, 2026 04:29 PM IST
Rajkumar Roat, MP and founder of the Bharat Adivasi Party (BAP), has denied the Congress’s claim that around 300 BAP workers joined the party. Roat said only a handful of individuals associated with the party had switched sides and alleged that the Congress was exaggerating the numbers to create a political narrative.
His response came after Congress leaders claimed that around 300 BAP members had joined the party at former chief minister Ashok Gehlot’s residence in Jaipur on Thursday. The members were given Congress scarves, which they wore to signify their allegiance to the party. The move was projected as a sign that the BAP was losing support in its strongholds.
BAP leaders, however, said that when Mahendrajeet Malviya joined the BJP from the Congress in March 2024, more than 400 Congress workers from Banswara followed him. They claimed that those who had now returned to the Congress were not from the BAP but from the BJP.
Roat said, “Congress needs to first decide whether it is fighting the BJP or the BAP. Congress leaders have been insecure about our positioning since the beginning. In the 2023 Dungarpur Nagar Palika elections, Congress supported the BJP to form a board. This has been their strategy for a long time. We need to focus on doing good work on the ground, not politicising the matter. Barring a few, no BAP members were present at the event at Gehlot’s house on Thursday. Some of those who did join the Congress were people who had been suspended from the BAP.”
According to BAP leaders, the Congress is trying to create the impression that the party is losing ground ahead of the Panchayati Raj and urban local body elections.
Congress leaders refused to comment on the issue.
Getting poll-ready
The Rajasthan government and the State Election Commission have informed the Rajasthan High Court of the schedule for the upcoming urban local body and Panchayat elections, after which the court disposed of the petition on the issue.
As per the schedule, the OBC Commission will submit its report on reservation for OBC seats by August 5. The detailed notification for the urban local body elections will be issued on August 17, and nomination filing will begin on August 22. The entire election process for the urban local body polls will be completed by September 20.
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The notification for the Panchayat elections will be issued on September 23, and the election process will be completed by November 15.
Referring to the BJP’s “One Nation, One Election” proposal, Congress spokesperson Swarnim Chaturvedi alleged that the state government had delayed the local body elections for too long. He said that with the Panchayat and urban local body elections scheduled a month apart, a party that could not conduct even local body elections together should not dream of holding nationwide elections simultaneously.
The BJP is yet to react to the Congress’s remarks.