jaipur, Apr 11
In yet another jolt to the Congress ahead of the Lok Sabha elections, Rajasthan Congress treasurer Sitaram Agarwal joined the BJP. Agarwal was the Congress candidate from Jaipur’s Vidhyadhar Nagar seat in the last Assembly elections, but lost to the BJP’s Diya Kumari, who is now the Deputy Chief Minister. Notably, Kumari was among those who inducted Agarwal into the BJP on Wednesday.
Agarwal joined the party with scores of his supporters. Apart from Kumari, BJP leaders Narayan Panchariya and Onkar Singh Lakhawat were present. After joining the party, Agarwal praised Kumari and said that he will work with dedication and commitment in the BJP.
Kumari said that Vidhyadhar Nagar Assembly constituency has become Congress-free and soon Jaipur and Rajasthan will also be free from the Congress. “We don’t want such a disease.
Ek Corona se toh mushkil se chutkara mila ab aap se bhi chutkara mil jaaye hamesha hamesha ke liye, yehi hum sab chahte hain (We got rid of Corona with such difficulty and now all of us want to get rid of them (Congress) for forever,” she said.
In the previous Ashok Gehlot government, Agarwal was an independent director of Rajasthan State Industrial Development and Investment Corporation Ltd (RIICO). He had contested from Vidhyadhar Nagar seat in 2018 and 2023, but lost to the BJP candidates both times. Created after the 2008 delimitation, the constituency is considered a BJP stronghold and has always been represented by the BJP since its inception. In 2018, Agarwal lost the election in a triangular contest between the BJP, Congress and Congress rebel Vikram Singh Shekhawat, with BJP polling 42.33 per cent votes, Agrawal 28.50 per cent and Shekhawat 22.31 per cent.
In 2023, Kumari, who polled 1.58 lakh votes, had defeated Agarwal decisively by a margin of 71,368 votes, the biggest winning margin in the state.
