In a huge setback for Congress in Rajasthan, four-time party MLA and former state minister Mahendrajeet Singh Malviya on Monday snapped ties with the grand-old party and joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

Malviya was welcomed to the BJP by the party’s Rajasthan in-charge Arun Singh, state unit chief CP Joshi and other leaders.

After joining hands with the saffron party, Malviya said, “The only reason for joining the BJP is the development of Vagad region. Only the BJP can do the development. Congress has no vision… If I became an MLA from Congress and then joined the BJP, then how would I still remain an MLA from Congress…”

“Development is a big issue. There is a double-engine government here. The state and the country are transforming and the entire world is watching,” Malviya told the reporters.

The BJP swept to power in Rajasthan in the assembly elections late last year. The saffron party had won 115 seats while the Congress, which governed the state between 2018 and 2023, managed victory from 70.

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Who is Mahendrajeet Malviya?

A Congress Working Committee member and influential tribal leader, Mahendrajeet Malviya, 63, is a four-time MLA from Bagidora in Banswara district. He was also elected an MP from Banswara in 1998 and he served as a Minister twice in the Congress regimes in the state. His wife Resham Malviya is a three-time Zila Pramukh in Banswara.

In the past few days, Malviya had given enough indications that he was not happy with the way he had been treated in the party.

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Why Mahendrajeet Singh’s resignation from Congress matters

The exit of the veteran leader, also a member of the Congress Working Committee, comes just a day before Union Home Minister Amit Shah’s rally in Udaipur on February 20. It is at this rally that the BJP will kick off its campaign for the Lok Sabha elections in the crucial Mewar and Vagad regions of Rajasthan.

Malviya is seen as a leader with significant influence in the two regions which have so far sent four chief ministers of the state. A tribal leader, Malviya could be crucial for the BJP in consolidating the support of tribals who constitute around 14 per cent of the state’s electorate. Of the 25 Lok Sabha seats in the state, three are reserved for Scheduled Tribes and two of them are situated in the Udaipur division.

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A sitting MLA from Bagidora, Malviya is an influential region from the Vagad region which comprises the tribal-dominated districts of Dungarpur and Banswara. It is believed that Malviya was keen on contesting the Banswara Lok Sabha seat on a Congress ticket, which was reportedly denied. Seen as a close aide to former CM Ashok Gehlot, Malviya was also denied the post of Leader of Opposition in the Rajasthan Assembly.

Despite Gehlot lobbying for Malviya, the post eventually went to Dalit leader Tikaram Jully, close to Alwar royal scion and senior leader Jitendra Singh.