Jaipur: A day after results of the Rajasthan by-polls were declared, Rashtriya Loktantrik Party (RLTP) chief Hanuman Beniwal used Twitter to complain to Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP) president Amit Shah against former chief minister Vasundhara Raje and former minister Yunus Khan for “aiding” the Congress candidate on the Khinvsar seat in Nagaur during the by-polls held on October 21.
In his tweet, Beniwal tagged BJP chief Amit Shah, BJP Haryana chief J.P. Nadda and BJP Rajasthan chief Satish Poonia, and wrote, “After the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, Vasundhara Raje and former minister Yunus Khan has now openly helped the Congress candidate on the Khinvsar seat in the by-polls too. Please take action against them.”
आदरणीय @AmitShah जी @JPNadda जी @SatishPooniaBJP जी लोकसभाचुनाव और अब खिंवसर उप चुनाव में भी @VasundharaBJP और पूर्व मंत्री यूनुस खां ने @RLPINDIAorg का @BJP4Rajasthan @BJP4India से गठबंधन के बावजूद कोंग्रेस प्रत्याशी की चुनाव में खुले आम मदद की,इनपे कार्यवाही की जाये !
— HANUMAN BENIWAL (@hanumanbeniwal) October 25, 2019
BJP had formed an alliance with Beniwal’s party (RLTP) in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls on the Nagaur seat. Beniwal, already a MLA from Khinvsar (Nagaur), defeated Congress candidate Jyoti Mirdha. This created a vacancy on the Khinvsar seat and for the by-polls too, BJP formed an alliance with RLTP. Beniwal’s brother Narayan Beniwal was fielded as the alliance’s candidate. He defeated Congress’s Harendra Mirdha by a margin of 4,630 votes.
Yunus Khan, who was considered the number two in the previous Vasundhara Raje government, had maintained distance from campaigning in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls in Nagaur. Khan was expecting the ticket from the Nagaur seat after he was made to contest the Tonk assembly seat against Sachin Pilot. Post the denial of this ticket, Khan has reportedly invested himself in “anti-party activities” in the district.
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Beniwal, who first won the assembly elections in Khinvsar on a BJP ticket in 2008, has a history of opposing Raje. In 2013, he was suspended from the party after he publicly confronted the then chief minister over a corruption allegation.
Reacting to Beniwal’s tweet, BJP Rajasthan president Satish Poonia in a statement to reporters, said, “BJP leaders have helped the alliance during the by-polls by carrying out rallies in support of Narayan Beniwal. I have already warned Hanuman Beniwal of maintaining the dignity of the alliance but it seems he needs to be warned again.”