Hanuman Beniwal Voices Discontent Over Exclusion from INDIA Bloc Meetings

Hanuman Beniwal, leader of the Rashtriya Loktantrik Party, expressed frustration over not being included in the INDIA bloc meetings before and after the Lok Sabha polls. Despite winning the Nagaur seat in Rajasthan, Beniwal felt sidelined compared to smaller southern parties. He plans to stay in the INDIA bloc and launch a protest against the Agnipath scheme.

RLP leader and Nagaur MP-elect Hanuman Beniwal on Friday voiced his frustration at not being invited to INDIA bloc meetings before and after the Lok Sabha poll results, urging why smaller southern parties were included while he was excluded.

Beniwal, who triumphed over BJP candidate and former Congress MP Jyoti Mirdha by 42,225 votes to claim the Nagaur seat, emphasized his commitment to remaining in the INDIA bloc. He revealed that Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge admitted to him over the phone that excluding him was a grave error. 'If such a mistake was made, then it was a blunder,' Beniwal told reporters in Nagaur.

'Meetings (of the INDIA bloc) were held twice, on June 1 and June 5 (after results were announced on June 4). I was not invited to these. Why was I not invited? When small parties from the south were invited, why was Hanuman Beniwal not invited?' he asked. Out of the 25 parliamentary seats in the state, BJP secured 14 while INDIA bloc parties claimed 11 -- including eight by Congress and one each by CPI(M), RLP, and BAP.

'Every single MP is needed in the country and people like Hanuman Beniwal are forgotten. The Congress should celebrate that the INDIA bloc got 11 seats in Rajasthan, but did we (the RLP) have no role in bringing the 11 (seats)? I got three lakh votes of the Congress but 20 lakh votes of the RLP went to the Congress, enabling them to secure so many seats,' he asserted.

Beniwal also accused Congress of getting RLP leader Ummedaram Beniwal to quit and fielding him as their candidate in Barmer. 'On one hand, they were talking of alliance with me, and on the other, they were breaking my party,' he said.

When asked about his next steps, Beniwal confirmed he would not join the BJP-led NDA, poised to form the government with Narendra Modi as Prime Minister, and would remain part of the INDIA bloc. He also plans to initiate a protest against the Agnipath scheme for short-term army recruitment.

Congress leader Sachin Pilot acknowledged Beniwal's resentment but expressed confidence in the durability and growth potential of the INDIA bloc, stating, 'Everyone who was in the alliance is still in the alliance. I think that in the coming time, more parties will join our alliance.'

Beniwal, who joined the 2019 Lok Sabha election from Nagaur as an RLP candidate aligned with BJP, left the NDA in December 2020 over the farm laws.