BJP does not attach much importance to Rajput, says Rajiv Pratap Rudy

BJP leader Rajiv Pratap Rudy. File. | Photo credit: PTI

Senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader and Saran MP Rajiv Pratap Rudy said that BJP does not attach much importance to Rajput and no Rajput caste people trust any Rajput leaders in Bihar.

Mr. Rudy said this on Tuesday (November 3, 2026) while talking to reporters in Chapra, Saran while replying to a question related to the recently concluded Bihar Legislative Council polls in which Janata Dal (United) candidate Anand Pushkar lost to independent candidate Rahul Raj, who belongs to the Rajput community in Saran teaching constituency.

“Some people are saying that if Rudy ji wanted to, he (Rahul Raj) would have stepped aside. Today, no Rajput in Bihar trusts any politician. And do you really think that BJP gives any Rajput importance enough to actually pay attention to what the person says? That is something the party needs to understand,” Mr. Rudy said.

He further said, “It is up to the BJP to decide that the candidate will step down if Sigriwal ji (Janardan Singh Sigriwal, BJP MP from Maharajganj) from Ruda ji makes a request. I do not believe that one Rajput leader in Bihar would agree to step down just because another Rajput leader asks him to do so; such a scenario does not seem likely at this point.”

After facing defeat in the Council polls, JD(U) candidate Mr. Pushkar, who belongs to the Brahmin community, alleged that the BJP betrayed and all the Rajput MPs and MLAs from Saran including Rajiv Pratap Rudy helped the independent candidate win.

“All BJP MPs have committed betrayal; Rajiv Pratap Rudy, Sigriwal and Radha Mohan Singh have openly betrayed me.)” Mr. Pushkar said a day after the results were announced.

Mr. Pushkar’s father, the late Kedar Nath Pandey, earlier represented the Saran Teachers Constitution seat four times on a Communist Party of India (CPI) ticket.

Controversy has already erupted over the ‘joining’ of two independent MLCs, Bansidhar Brajwasi (Tirhut) and Rahul Raj, to the BJP. Mr. Brajwasi defeated JD (U) Abhishek Jha from Tirhut Graduates’ seat.

The opposition Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) demanded that both be disqualified under the anti-absconding law. On Wednesday (November 4, 2026), an RJD delegation led by the party’s national general secretary Abdul Bari Siddiqui submitted a memorandum to Bihar Legislative Council incumbent Speaker Ram Bachan Rai regarding the disqualification of both MLCs Rahul Raj, who were elected as independents but subsequently joined the BJP.

Asked if Rahul Raj had joined the BJP, Mr. Rudy said, “I don’t want to comment on that. A good government is being run under Samrat Choudhary and we have the blessings of Nitish Kumar ji.”

A four-term Lok Sabha member, Mr Rudy was part of the Narendra Modi cabinet after winning the 2014 general elections, but resigned from the skill development ministry in September 2017 and has never been a minister at the Center since.

Differences with his own party became public knowledge in August 2025 when Mr Rudy defeated former Union minister and BJP leader Sanjeev Balyan in the hotly contested Constitution Club poll in New Delhi. Everyone called it BJP vs BJP battle.

Saran division-based social activist Thakur Bunty Singh said, “In Saran teaching constituency, Rajput has the maximum number of MPs and MLAs, which includes nine MLAs, four MPs and two MLCs, despite having no representation in Bihar and central government from Saran teaching constituency.”

Published – 5 Nov 2026 05:41 IST