BJP strongman in Kota Prahlad Gunjal joins Congress, likely to take on Om Birla

Jaipur: BJP strongman and Vasundhara Raje's close aide Prahlad Gunjal on Thursday joined the Congress party and is expected to give Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla a tough fight in the Kota seat.

Gunjal, 63, is a strong Gujjar leader in the Hadoti region which comprises the districts of Kota, Bundi, Baran and Jhalawar.

On his joining Congress, party state president Govind Singh Dotasra said, "Gunjal is a powerful leader of the Hadoti region. BJP is systematically annihilating grassroots leaders in the party and ignoring their contributions."

While joining Gunjal in a direct reference to Rajasthan’s present Chief Minister Bhajanlal Sharma said that he did not consider himself junior to anybody in the BJP. He said, “When I became a legislator for the first time, the present chief minister was trying his luck for the post of sarpanch. When I became a legislator for the second time, the CM was again trying to compete to become a member of the panchayat samiti.”

He also said that he cannot "flatter or bootlick" leaders.

Gunjal had left BJP in 2003 following his rift with Raje over the Gujjar agitation and he used to criticise her for "not handling the issue properly". He had then joined Loktantrik Samajwadi Party. Later in 2013, he rejoined BJP and became a staunch supporter of Raje.

In 2013, he fought the Kota (North) assembly seat and won defeating Congress’ Kota strongman Shanti Dhariwal. In 2013, BJP swept the Assembly polls winning 163 out of 200 seats under Raje’s leadership. He won his first Assembly seat in 2003.

In both 2018 and 2023, Gunjal as a BJP candidate lost the Assembly elections to Dhariwal. While in BJP, Gunjal was also said to be a rival of Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla.

This time if Congress fields Gunjal from Kota, he would be in direct confrontation with Birla.

Gunjal’s joining Congress also changes the political equations in the grand old party in the Hadoti region. Gunjal has always opposed Gehlot’s closest aide and former minister Dhariwal. Now, he would be on the same page as Dhariwal.

Congress was finding it hard to find a credible leader to take on Birla. It is said to have been keen on Dhariwal or another Kota leader Ashok Chandna’s contesting from Kota. However, both were reluctant. But with Gunjal entering the fray, Congress seems to have found the right candidate to take on Birla.

Birla has been winning the seat since the two elections -- 2014 and 2019. In 2014, Birla had a vote share of 55.78 per cent which increased to 58.49 per cent in 2019.