Why is AAP trying to woo Jat-strongman Hanuman Beniwal in Rajasthan?

New Delhi: The Aam Aadmi Party may have secured a national party status recently, but it is trying to experiment in Rajasthan ahead of crucial state legislative assembly polls scheduled for later this year. For the first time, the Arvind Kejriwal-led party is trying to form an alliance with a regional group aiming to expand its base in state politics and secure seats in the state legislature.

Is Hanuman Beniwal joining AAP?

Jat strongman of Rajasthan and Rashtriya Loktantrik Party Chief, Hanuman Beniwal, is seemingly being wooed by the Aam Aadmi Party ahead of the Assembly polls to make inroads into the state politics with a bang.

Senior leaders from AAP, including Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, met Beniwal in the national capital a few days ago. Sources stated that the two senior leaders have discussed a possible strategic alliance between AAP and RLP in the forthcoming Rajasthan legislative assembly polls.

The AAP is trying to woo Beniwal as he is considered to hold sway over Jat voters in about 50 Assembly constituencies in the 200-member legislature. Comprising about 15 per cent of the state’s population, Jats influence the poll outcome in about 50 of the 200 Assembly seats.

The Rashtriya Loktantrik Party had tied up with the BJP in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls leading to a clean sweep and the alliance securing all 25 Lok Sabha seats in Rajasthan. However, the alliance had broken off a couple of years later due to differences cropping up between the parties.

Sources stated that the AAP is trying to emerge as the third force in the desert state and hope that the Jat leader would help it in securing at least double-digit seats in the state legislature. While the AAP also feels that it can gather anti-incumbency votes going against the Congress government.

With the Ashok Gehlot-led Congress government under tremendous pressure over deteriorating law and order and corruption issues, the AAP strategists feel that the newest national party can further expand in the desert state. This is also being seen as an attempt by the AAP to come out of its “go it alone” image in national politics. The party feels that this strategy of a tie-up with a regional outfit could help AAP ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, opening up several possibilities of alliances with smaller and regional parties ahead of crucial elections.

AAP-RLP alliance

If the alliance with the Rashtriya Loktantrik Party happens, the AAP would also help shed its image of being only urban voter centric. This alliance with the RLP, which is largely supported by a rural and agriculture-dominated community, would help ensure that AAP expands its reach in rural parts of the country. Till now the Kejriwal-led party is largely confined to the urban areas and has a voter base in urban centres like New Delhi.

With Sachin Pilot too likely to move away from Congress, a strategic alliance between AAP and RLP is expected to create an interesting political situation in Rajasthan for the first time. Over the past few decades, the bordering state has so far only seen a straight contest between BJP and Congress. However, these new developments are likely to upset the political equations of the two dominant parties in several assembly constituencies of the state.

Rajasthan is an important state for the BJP and Congress alike. Both the national parties want to secure power in the bordering state in Assembly polls. Currently, Rajasthan is the only big state that is being governed by the Congress and the BJP hopes to boost the morale of its cadre ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha polls by convincingly drubbing the Congress in the crucial assembly elections.

The BJP is trying hard to ensure that it keeps the various Hindu castes and communities engaged and away from the Congress. And installation of a saffron government in Rajasthan would also help it in achieving its 2024 dream. And the BJP is hoping that despite the proposed AAP-RLP it secures a clear majority in the state Assembly later this year.