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Krishna Tirath, a two time Congress MP and cabinet minister in the Manmohan Singh government, on Monday joined the Bharatiya Janata Party.
She is expected to bolster BJP President Amit Shah’s strategy to reach out to the Dalits in Delhi, and is likely to be fielded to counter Aam Aadmi Party (AAP)’s rising Dalit star Rakhi Birla.
She is expected to bolster BJP President Amit Shah’s strategy to reach out to the Dalits in Delhi, and is likely to be fielded to counter Aam Aadmi Party (AAP)’s rising Dalit star Rakhi Birla.
The development caught the Congress unaware. The party had no clue that one of its most prominent Dalit leaders of Delhi had plans to join their rivals. Tirath’s entry is a precursor to several local level Dalit leaders joining BJP in the coming days, said party sources.
The BJP is keen to do well in the 12 assembly seats reserved for scheduled castes in Delhi. Shah has been trying to recast Delhi unit of BJP from a predominantly Punjabi and Baniya dominated party to also reflecting the interests of Delhi’s substantial Dalit and Purabiya (people from eastern Uttar Pradesh and Bihar) population.
Tirath joining BJP is aimed at weakening AAP’s hold on the reserved seats. In 2013 assembly, AAP won nine of these 12-seats with BJP winning two and Congress one seat. The Congress had won nine of these seats in the 2008 assembly elections (see chart). In total, there are 18 of the 70 seats where Dalit votes are crucial, comprising more than a fifth of the electorate.
In Delhi, Dalits are predominantly Valmikis or sanitation workers, Jatavs and Khatiks. Udit Raj, BJP MP from North West Delhi reserved Lok Sabha constituency is a Khatik. He organised a public meeting of the Khatik samaj on Friday to muster support of his caste group for the BJP. Party President Shah was the chief guest, and promised that a BJP government in Delhi will take care of Dalit concerns. The BJP, with Shah as the chief guest, had also organised a meeting with the Valmiki samaj in early December.
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Tirath, 59, was an MP from North West Delhi constituency in 2004 and 2009. She was part of the Manmohan Singh cabinet, handling the women and child development portfolio. In the 2014 Lok Sabha election, Tirath trailed BJP’s Udit Raj and AAP’s Rakhi Birla from the North West Delhi reserved constituency. Tirath was an MLA from the Karol Bagh area in 1993, 1998 and 2003 and a minister in the Sheila Dikshit government.
“I have come with the aim of serving the people,” Tirath said after her meeting with BJP President Shah. Maken said the move reflected “nervousness and desperation” of BJP willing to accept any leader in its fold after Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Ramlila Ground rally evoked lukewarm response.
After Kiran Bedi and Shazia Ilimi, Tirath is the third woman leader to join BJP in recent days. A Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh insider said Tirath will be an asset for the BJP. “She is an old school politician of the H K L Bhagat and Jagdish Tytler stable who is devoted to her workers and has an amazing hold on the ground,” he said.
Tirath joining the BJP is likely to further fan the growing disaffection within the party. But party leaders believe it will not have any significant impact on BJP’s electoral fortunes. The party on Monday cautioned its MP Manoj Tiwari for terming Bedi a “thanedaar”. Tiwari, along with Udit Raj, didn’t attend a tea party that Bedi had organised for all the seven BJP MPs from Delhi at his residence on Sunday. Bedi, who could be declared the the party chief ministerial candidate at the meeting of the party parliamentary board later today, told television channels that reports of disaffection in the party were exaggerated.
On Sunday evening, Shah advised booth level workers and panna pramukhs that the Delhi Assembly election wasn’t about ‘Modi magic’ but the organizational strength of the BJP in Delhi. Party sources have conveyed that the BJP central election committee is likely to nominated Kiran Bedi as its chief ministerial candidate today evening.
