A new political outfit, the Bhartiya Adivasi Party, formed by tribal leaders following a split in the Bharatiya Tribal Party, has thrown the gauntlet to the BJP and the Congress in Rajasthan’s tribal belt, forcing senior leaders of the two national parties to make frequent visits in their attempts to shore up support ahead of the assembly polls.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot, among others, have made several visits to the tribal region in an attempt to solidify their parties’ support bases.
The Bharatiya Adivasi Party is managed by youngsters, similar to the Gujarat-based Bharatiya Tribal Party, which won two seats in the 2018 assembly elections. Its formation was announced in September by MLAs Rajkumar Roat and Ramprasad Dindor, who won the 2018 polls on a Bharatiya Tribal Party ticket.
Local BJP leaders also believe that the Bharatiya Adivasi Party is now the leading force in the tribal belt. MLA Roat said, “We have formed a new organisation to work for the tribal people. We will be fielding Bharatiya Adivasi Party candidates from around 18 seats in the region.”
He claimed the Bharatiya Tribal Party, which he and many others had joined ahead of the 2018 polls based on its ideology, no longer worked along the expected lines, leading to the split. “We will try to defeat both the Congress and the BJP,” he added.
