From Cong Critic to Cong Ticket, Dr Hiralal Alawa Does a U-turn
From critic to candidate, Dr Hiralal Alawa does a u-turn, joins Congress and will contest from Manawar in Dhar, MP.
advertisement
He portrayed himself as the kingmaker in the battle for Madhya Pradesh and promised his supporters that the new government will be formed by an Adivasi chief minister instead of a Congress or BJP leader.
However, with only a few weeks left for election day, Dr Hiralal Alawa, founder of Jai Adivasi Yuva Shakti (JAYS), has joined the Congress and is set to contest the elections from Manawar in Dhar district.
JAYS with Dr Alawa at its helm, was campaigning hard in the tribal belt of Madhya Pradesh against the incumbent BJP and the opposition Congress for the past few months. Their plan was to contest elections on 80 seats across the tribal belt. However, JAYS was not registered as a political party and its candidates were to contest the elections independently.
Despite no political experience and lack of funding JAYS seemed ready for a David versus Goliath contest. But on Sunday, 4 November, Dr Hiralal Alawa’s name featured in the second list of Congress candidates thereby changing all political equations in the tribal belt.
‘Would have preferred Kukshi over Manawar’
On 2 October, Dr Alawa organised a massive farmer’s rally in his hometown Kukshi in Dhar district, where he had called Bollywood actor Govinda to pull in a large crowd.
Later in the day while speaking with The Quint, Dr Alawa had said, “We didn’t want to make JAYS a political party, because the local tribal leaders will not lend us support as they will place us in the same basket along with the Congress and BJP.”
But now Dr Alawa has joined the same Congress party which he openly criticised during his public speeches. The Quint spoke to Dr Alawa after he got the Manawar ticket in Dhar district.
He further said, “JAYS will continue its fight for Tribal rights and they will contest the elections through independent candidates. Now that I am a part of the Congress, the core committee will take decisions about selecting the candidates.”
Will JAYS Support Congress?
According to a source on the ground, although JAYS has been working hard in the tribal belt, their popularity spiked in the last few months, thanks to Congress workers joining JAYS rallies to pump up the numbers. The core team of JAYS always knew that they will move to Congress either before or after the polls.
Ravi Baghel, president of JAYS chapter in Indore told The Quint that JAYS was in talks with Congress to secure tickets on at least five seats.
However, when asked whether JAYS will support Congress after the elections, JAYS spokesperson Rahul Baniya said, “We cannot comment about that at this moment. If BJP has the numbers and if they agree to our demands that will enrich Adivasi lives in the tribal belt, then we will support them.”