BJP does not give enough importance to the Rajput community: Rajiv Pratap Rudy

Senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader and Saran MP Rajiv Pratap Rudy has claimed that the BJP is not giving enough importance to the Rajput community. He further stated that people of the Rajput caste in Bihar no longer have faith in any Rajput leader.

Rudy made this statement while speaking to reporters in Chhapra, Saran, on Tuesday, 3 November 2026. This reaction came in the context of the recent Bihar Legislative Council elections, in which Janata Dal (United) candidate Anand Pushkar lost to independent Rajput candidate Rahul Raj in the Saran Teachers' constituency.

Rudy said some people claim that if he had wanted, Rahul Raj would have withdrawn from the election. Regarding this, he clarified, "Today, no Rajput in Bihar has faith in any politician. And do you really think the BJP gives enough importance to any Rajput that they would listen to that person? The party needs to understand this."

He added that it is up to the BJP to decide whether a candidate would withdraw if Maharajganj BJP MP Janardan Singh Sigriwal or Rudy himself requested it. However, Rudy believes it is unlikely that a Rajput leader in Bihar would withdraw just because another Rajput leader asked them to.

On the other hand, following the defeat in the election, Brahmin community JDU candidate Anand Pushkar has accused the BJP of betrayal. Pushkar alleged that all Rajput MPs and MLAs of Saran, including Rajiv Pratap Rudy, helped the independent candidate win. A day after the results were declared, Pushkar said, "All BJP MPs have betrayed us; Rajiv Pratap Rudy ji, Sigriwal ji, and Radha Mohan Singh ji have openly betrayed us."

It is noteworthy that Anand Pushkar's father, the late Kedarnath Pandey, had previously represented the Saran Teachers' constituency four times on a Communist Party of India (CPI) ticket.

Meanwhile, a controversy has erupted over the joining of the BJP by Rahul Raj and Bansidhar Brajwasi, who were elected as independent MLCs. Brajwasi defeated JDU's Abhishek Jha in the Tirhut Graduates' seat. The opposition Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) has demanded that both be disqualified under the anti-defection law. On Wednesday, 4 November 2026, a delegation led by RJD national general secretary Abdul Bari Siddiqui submitted a memorandum regarding this to the acting chairman of the Bihar Legislative Council, Ram Bachan Rai.

When asked about Rahul Raj joining the BJP, Rudy refused to comment. He only said that a good government is running under the leadership of Samrat Choudhary and it has the blessings of Nitish Kumar.

Social worker from Saran division, Thakur Bunty Singh, stated that Rajputs have the highest number of MPs and MLAs in the Saran Teachers' constituency, including 9 MLAs, 4 MPs, and 2 MLCs. Despite this, there is no representation from the Saran Teachers' constituency in the Bihar or Central government.

According to a report by The Hindu, Rajiv Pratap Rudy has been a Lok Sabha member four times and was included in Narendra Modi's cabinet after the 2014 general elections. He resigned from the Ministry of Skill Development in September 2017 and has not been a minister at the Centre since then. In August 2025, he defeated former Union Minister Sanjeev Balyan in the Constitution Club of New Delhi elections, which was seen as a BJP versus BJP battle.