The Bharatiya Janata Party or BJP has suspended its senior leader and former Rajasthan Assembly speaker Kailash Chandra Meghwal for accusing Union Law Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal of corruption. Meghwal, a Vasundhara Raje loyalist had called the Union Law Minister, who is also from Rajasthan, “corrupt number one” and accused him of withholding information related to criminal cases filed against him in election nomination. He also claimed that supporters of Vasundhara Raje were being punished by the BJP.

The BJP, on the other hand, accused the former Rajasthan Assembly Speaker of colluding with the Congress. In a public gathering in Rajasthan, the Union minister has said that Meghwal wants to contest elections on a Congress ticket and there he is leveling these accusations. There are reports that he may get a ticket from the Congress. After the “red diary” incident, the BJP had an upper hand on Ashok Gehlot government. However, Meghwal’s allegations of corruption and his subsequent suspension has given the ruling Congress a counter to the BJP’s ‘red diary’ attack.

Who is Kailash Meghwal?

Kailash Chandra Meghwal is a Dalit leader from Rajasthan with a six-decade-long political career. He has served as a Union minister of state, BJP national vice-president, three-time Lok Sabha MP, and six-term MLA.

Meghwal began his political career in the early 1960s with the Praja Socialist Party. He later joined the Bharatiya Jana Sangh and the Janata Party. He was elected to the Rajasthan Legislative Assembly for the first time in 1977. He served as a minister in the Janata Party government from 1977 to 1978.

After the Janata Party split in 1980, Meghwal joined the BJP. He was elected to the Lok Sabha from Jalore in 1989. He returned to the Rajasthan Assembly in 1991 and 1993. However, after losing the Assembly election in 1998, Meghwal returned to the Lok Sabha in 2001 after winning a by-election.

 He served as the Union Minister of State for Social Justice and Empowerment from 2003 to 2004 under the Atal Bihar Vajpayee government. He was re-elected to the Lok Sabha in 2004.

In 2013, Meghwal was elected to the Rajasthan Legislative Assembly for the sixth time. He was initially named a minister in the Vasundhara Raje government, but he resigned to become the Speaker of the Assembly in January 2014. He retained the Shahpura seat in the 2018 Assembly elections.

Meghwal is a veteran politician with a long and distinguished career. He has held important positions at the state and national levels. After his suspension from the BJP, it is likely that he will contest the elections on a Congress ticket. However, neither Congress nor Meghwal has confirmed this so far.