Jaipur: Veteran politician and six-time MLA Ghanshyam Tiwari, who had quit the BJP in 2018 and joined the Congress before the Lok Sabha elections in 2019 following differences with ex-Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje, made a ‘ghar wapsi’ to the saffron party on Saturday.
Tiwari joined the party in the presence of BJP state unit President Satish Poonia.
In the past, Tiwari has been a strong critic of former Chief Minister and senior BJP leader Vasundhara Raje. In fact, he had left the BJP in 2018 owing to his differences with Raje and floated his own party, Bharat Vahini, which contested the Assembly polls held later that year. However, he could not even save his election deposit from the Sanganer constituency.
In March 2019, Tiwari joined the Congress in the presence of former party chief Rahul Gandhi, who had visited Jaipur to participate in a roadshow.
Former BJP leaders and cabinet ministers Surendra Goyal and Janardan Gehlot too had joined the Congress along with Tiwari.
Sources close to the BJP revealed that the saffron party is trying to placate the leaders in Rajasthan who are annoyed with Raje and her style of functioning.
Next in line could be Manvendra Singh, son of veteran leader late Jaswant Singh, who also left the BJP owing to his differences with Raje.
Manvendra Singh later unsuccessfully contested the 2018 Assembly elections on a Congress ticket against Raje from her constituency in Jhalrapatan.
Speculation are rife that he might also make a come back to the BJP soon.
