Colonel (Retd) Manvendra Singh, a former Member of Parliament (MP) and son of veteran BJP leader Jaswant Singh, is all set to return to the party fold after a gap of six years in Barmer.
Party officials have confirmed that the rejoining ceremony will take place in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chief Minister Bhajan Lal Sharma on Friday.
In 1999, Manvendra Singh contested his first election on a BJP ticket, however, he lost to Congress leader Colonel (Retd) Sonaram Choudhary. In 2004, the tables turned and Manvendra Singh won the Lok Sabha elections on a BJP ticket.
In 2013, he won the Assembly elections and became an MLA from the Sheo constituency.
Thereafter, in 2014, the BJP denied a ticket to Jaswant Singh, who then contested the election as an Independent and lost.
Following this, Manvendra Singh rebelled, leading to his suspension from the BJP and later he joined the Congress in 2018. He contested the Assembly elections in 2018 on a Congress ticket against former Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje, however, the people showed their immense support for the two-time Chief Minister and Manvendra Singh faced defeat.
Yet again, in 2019, he contested on a Congress ticket from the Barmer-Jaisalmer Lok Sabha seat and lost.
In the 2023 Assembly elections, the Congress denied him a ticket from his desired seat but fielded him from Siwana. However, Congress leader Sunil Parihar, a close aide of former Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot, rebelled against the party and contested as an Independent, cutting into the Congress’ votes. This resulted in Manvendra Singh standing third and facing defeat again.
After Sunil Parihar joined the Congress, Manvendra Singh was disappointed and subsequently, decided to leave the party.
Meanwhile, the BJP is confident about winning Barmer despite this triangular contest.
BJP state Vice President Narayan Panchariya said, “The BJP is all set to win this seat. It was a triangular contest in Barmer in 2014 too, however, we won. So this time is no different and we will win this seat.”
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