Updated: December 12, 2020 5:35:48 pm
Rajasthan senior politician Ghanshyam Tiwari returned to the BJP on Saturday, two years after he left the party over differences with former CM Vasundhara Raje. (File photo)
Ghanshyam Tiwari, a high-ranking politician from Rajasthan and a six-time former US Army player, returned to the BJP on Saturday, two years after leaving the party over differences with former chief minister Vasundhara Raje.
Tiwari, who had presented his own team, the Bharat Vahini Party before the 2018 Assembly elections, had moved to Congress after losing his seat in the Sanganer constituency and was seen sharing the stage with Rajasthan’s chief minister. , Ashok Gehlot, and former Congress Speaker Rahul Gandhi at a rally in Jaipur ahead of the Lok Sabha elections last year.
“I have been with the BJP since its birth. Before that, he was with Jan Sangh and he was also a Sangh swayamsevak. The ideology of the BJP is present in my heart and soul. Due to some circumstances and problems, I had to float the Bharat Vahini Party. After the elections, I did not join Congress or become a leading member of the party. I just shared the stage on a Congress party show, ”Tiwari said, while speaking to reporters at the BJP headquarters in Jaipur after his return on Saturday.
He added that he did not participate in the protests organized by Congress against the CAA and the repeal of Article 370.
Tiwari thanked the BJP leadership for bringing him back to the match.
Rajasthan BJP President Satish Poonia said Tiwari had written a letter and expressed his desire to return to the BJP. After he relayed his message to the state leadership, he contacted the central party leadership and it was after its approval that Tiwari was included in the party.
At the time of his resignation, Tiwari had written a letter to then-BJP President Amit Shah, holding Vasundhara Raje and the central leadership accountable for his decision. “Now I will work against the undeclared emergency in the country and the state to ensure that no one tries to strangle democratic institutions for power,” Tiwari had said at the time.
He had been at odds with the Raje administration in the state over a number of issues, including the plight of farmers, the demand for reserve for the upper caste, and corruption. Tiwari, a former minister, had accused the then BJP government in Rajasthan of corruption.
On Saturday, after reporters asked him about the issues he had raised while a BJP MLA during Raje’s term in 2018, Tiwari said: “The issues I raised are almost done and now it’s a new list … That’s why the party is squeaky clean and we will write new alphabets on it with unity. “
Poonia cited the example of BJP leaders such as Uma Bharti, Kalyan Singh and Babulal Marandi to say that many senior leaders who had left the BJP for certain circumstances had also returned later.
Tiwari is known to have strong ties to the RSS and is considered an influential Brahmin leader of the BJP. While Tiwari was defeated from the Sanganer Assembly constituency in Jaipur in the 2018 state elections, his Bharat Vahini Party was unable to win a single seat.
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