Jaipur: In a major pre-poll defection, former Congress MP Jyoti Mirdha joined the BJP on Monday. Jyoti was an MP from Nagaur and was a Congress candidate from this seat in 2014 and 2019.
Jyoti Mirdha joined BJP in the presence of party in-charge Arun Singh and Rajasthan party president CP Joshi at party headquarters in Delhi.
After joining BJP Dr. Jyoti Mirdha targeted the Congress by raising the issue of party workers being ignored and Congress going in the wrong direction. "We want to play a role in nation building and there are fewer opportunities for this in Congress, " said Mirdha, adding that the situation in Rajasthan regarding women atrocities and law and order is not good. Our workers were being ignored. Many people were feeling suffocated and left the Congress.
Jyoti Mirdha's political background
Jyoti Mirdha belongs to a powerful political family of Mirdhas in west Rajasthan. She is the granddaughter of veteran Congress leader Nathuram Mirdha who was synonymous with Congress in this region and was the only leader to win his seat in the Janata Party wave of 1977.
With Jyoti joining the BJP, the party has a strong candidate for the Nagaur seat and a prominent face to influence the Jat vote bank of this region.
Jyoti Mirdha was the Lok Sabha candidate from Congress in the last Lok Sabha elections. She lost to NDA candidate Hanuman Beniwal.
BJP's Jat vote bank
BJP was in dire need of a big Jat face in this region as Hanuman Beniwal had left the alliance on the issue of controversial Farm Bills and is now posing a challenge for the BJP not only in Nagaur but in many seats of north-west Rajasthan.
Reacting to Jyoti Mirdha joining BJP', Congress state president Govind Singh Dotasra said ' Jyoti was away from party activists for the last four years. Her in-laws belong to a big industrialist family so there may be some pressure on her from the central government.'
