Midnight spectacle in Lutyens' Delhi as Rudy beats Balyan in BJP vs BJP battle in Constitution Club poll
BJP Lok Sabha MP Rajiv Pratap Rudy had just defeated his party colleague and former MP Sanjeev Balyan in the election for the post of Secretary (Administration) at the Constitution Club of India, located just metres from the Parliament complex.
New Delhi: Well past midnight Tuesday, the skies over Lutyens' Delhi lit up with fireworks. It was an unusual sight for the area—home to the nation's power elite, the Parliament and various ministries. And the reason behind the celebration was just as unexpected!
Until he threw his hat into the ring, it was almost inconceivable that Balyan—a prominent Jat leader from western Uttar Pradesh's sugarcane belt with a controversial past including allegations of involvement in the 2013 Muzaffarnagar riots—would challenge Rudy.
Balyan said he accepts the mandate with a spirit of 'patience and self-reflection'.
'This tradition of struggle will continue, for in a democracy, continuity is the true victory.
Heartfelt thanks to all the esteemed members and congratulations to the winning candidate, Mr. @RajivPratapRudy,' he said in an X post in Hindi.
Rudy, a five-term MP from Bihar and former Union minister, is a commercial pilot by training and has taught Economics at the college level. Suave and urbane, he represents a polished, metropolitan face of the BJP, markedly different from Balyan's rugged nature.
However, it soon emerged Balyan had a powerful lobby backing him to dislodge Rudy, who had been winning the post unopposed for the last 25 years, with the exception of 2005 and 2010, when the Congress's J.P. Aggarwal had challenged him.
BJP MP Nishikant Dubey, considered close to Union Home Minister Amit Shah, publicly batting for 'Dr Balyan'—who earned a PhD in Veterinary Anatomy from Chaudhary Charan Singh Haryana Agriculture University, Hisar, in 2005—was the clearest indication of that support.
'Dr Balyan needs to win to reclaim the club for MPs and former MPs. It is now controlled by IAS, IPS, IFS and pilots,' Dubey told reporters as voting went underway Tuesday. At the end, Dubey unwittingly helped Rudy gain an edge, with the Opposition throwing its weight behind him.
After all, the Opposition sees Dubey as Shah's voice—both inside and outside Parliament. No wonder then that none other than Congress Parliamentary Party chairperson Sonia Gandhi and party president Mallikarjun Kharge were among the 707 current and former MPs who cast their votes in Tuesday's election.
In fact, Sonia and Kharge were among the first to arrive. Shah, on the other hand, turned up about 30 minutes before polling closed, accompanied by BJP president J.P. Nadda and Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal.
संसदीय क्लब के चुनाव में मैं संजीव बालियान जी के साथ था,हूँ ।यह चुनाव बालियान जी के जीवन का ऐतिहासिक चुनाव है,इसने उनकी ताक़त को दिखाया,कॉंग्रेस अध्यक्ष खडगे साहब व सोनिया गांधी जी का क्लब के चुनाव में वोट देने आना उनकी जीत है,कांग्रेस के वरिष्ठ नेता तत्कालीन सांसद तथा दिल्ली…
— Dr Nishikant Dubey (@nishikant_dubey) August 13, 2025
Rudy said his winning margin was over 100 votes. Among other posts, AP Jithender Reddy and Rajiv Shukla of the Congress and Tiruchi Siva of the DMK were already elected unopposed as Treasurer, Secretary (Sports), and Secretary (Culture), respectively.
'When Congress leader Sonia ji arrived along with Kharge saheb, and from our party Amit Shah ji and Nadda saheb came, the true spirit of democracy was reflected in the Constitution Club elections…' Rudy told reporters.
Asked about Dubey's remarks on the functioning of the club, Rudy said, 'These things happen in politics, let it be.' It was not lost on Rudy, who was dropped from the Union Cabinet in 2017, that he was up against the might of the establishment—and defeated it—despite being its long time insider.
Dubey, meanwhile, reiterated his support for Balyan in an X post Wednesday morning.
'I was, and am, with Sanjeev Balyan ji in the Constitution Club election. This election is a historic one in Balyan ji's life. It has shown his power. Congress president Kharge sahab and Sonia Gandhi ji caming to vote in the club's election is his (Balyan's) victory. Even when senior Congress leader and then MP and Delhi Pradesh Congress president Jai Prakash Aggarwal ji contested against Rudy ji in 2005 and 2010, neither Sonia Gandhi ji nor any member of her cabinet came to vote,' he said in his post in Hindi.
'Congratulations to Sanjeev Balyan for enhancing the dignity of the Constitution Club, and best wishes to @RajivPratapRudy ji for his victory,' he added.
(Edited by Ajeet Tiwari)
Also Read: BJP vs BJP battle in Constitution Club is a glimpse of widening fault lines—Mumbai to Lucknow
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
&w=3840&q=100)
Business Standard
6 minutes ago
- Business Standard
EC notice to NDA MP, her MLC husband for possessing two voter cards
The Election Commission on Thursday served notices to LJP (Ram Vilas) MP from Bihar's Vaishali Veena Devi and her husband Dinesh Singh, a JD(U) MLC, for allegedly possessing two voter ID cards each, an official said. The EC's action came hours after RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav alleged that the couple possessed two voter ID cards each. "The Electoral Registration Officer (ERO) for Muzaffarpur assembly constituency has sent notices to the MP and her husband asking them to submit their replies to the EC over the issue of possessing two voter ID cards by August 16," the official said. Yadav, the leader of opposition in the assembly, shared purported screenshots of draft electoral rolls published following the Special Intensive Revision (SIR), claiming that the NDA MP and the MLC have two voter cards each. "Is it not a case of fraud, manipulation, and collusion by the Election Commission to ensure a victory for BJP-NDA?" he asked. Speaking to reporters, Veena Devi claimed, "I don't know how my name has appeared in the electoral rolls of the Muzaffarpur assembly seat. I am a registered voter of the Sahebganj assembly seat only. I came to know about it through the press." Alleging that the anomaly has happened due to irregularities committed by election officials, she said she has submitted a form for deletion of her name from the rolls in Muzaffarpur. "Let Tejashwi Yadav say whatever he wants... Since he is in the opposition, he will say all such things against the leaders of the ruling parties," she said.
The Wire
6 minutes ago
- The Wire
Fatehpur Mausoleum Case: No Arrest Over Vandalism Yet; Locals Barred From Talking to Outsiders
New Delhi: While the police were yet to arrest anyone in connection with the vandalism of a mausoleum in Fatehpur's Abu Nagar locality, a one-kilometre radius has been cordoned off with barricades around the site to prevent any further communal flare-up. On Tuesday (August 13), police booked more than 150 people, 10 of them named, for damaging public property and disturbing the peace, according to news agency PTI. The 10 named in the FIR are Dharmendra Singh (Bajrang Dal), Abhishek Shukla (BJP), Ajay Singh (district panchayat member), Devnath Dhakad (BJP), Vinay Tiwari (municipal councillor), Pushpraj Patel, Rithik Pal (BJP), Prasoon Tiwari (BJP), Ashish Trivedi and Pappu Chauhan (Samajwadi Party). Meanwhile, locals have been barred from talking to outsiders and media entry has been banned. Police in plainclothes are roaming areas near the mausoleum, interacting with locals and monitoring the activities. On August 11, a violent confrontation erupted in Fatehpur, after a mob from various Hindutva bodies stormed a centuries-old mausoleum in Abu Nagar, hoisted saffron flags on it, performed Hindu rituals inside and vandalised graves in the presence of security forces. It was followed by stone-pelting and clashes with members of the Muslim community, triggering a political outcry and raising questions about law enforcement in Bharatiya Janata Party-ruled Uttar Pradesh. According to the PTI report, while the vandals are yet to be arrested, police have arrested the Congress city president, Arif alias Gudda, and his several supporters, for holding a protest demanding the arrest of the vandals. Meanwhile, the party's district president, Mahesh Dwivedi was placed under house arrest when a party delegation comprising two former MLAs planned to visit the site. Dwivedi called the police action 'dictatorial' and accused the administration of acting as a 'silent spectator' while the vandalism had happened. Samajwadi Party MP Naresh Uttam Patel said he had sent a letter to Union home minister Amit Shah, demanding an investigation by an independent agency into the matter.
The Hindu
6 minutes ago
- The Hindu
Binoy Viswam calls for Supreme Court-monitored probe into voter list discrepancy in Thrissur
Communist Party of India (CPI) Kerala secretary Binoy Viswam has demanded a Supreme Court-monitored judicial probe into the alleged large-scale manipulation of the voter list in Thrissur carried out under the influence of the BJP. Addressing a press conference in Thrissur on Thursday, Mr. Viswam accused Union Minister Suresh Gopi of playing a central role in the alleged tampering of voters' list the and questioned the latter's 'stone-like silence' on the matter. 'This silence speaks volumes. It shows that it was under his initiative that the voter list was manipulated in Thrissur. Earlier, he would rush to comment on every issue. But now, even with such a grave matter at hand, he remains mute,' Mr. Viswam said. According to him, the voter list, which he described as 'the Bible, Quran, and Gita of the election process' has been desecrated. 'From Maharashtra to Karnataka to Thrissur, the story is the same. Thrissur has now been turned into another venue for the murder of democracy,' he charged. He said the credibility of elections across the country has 'hit rock bottom' as electoral malpractices continue to emerge. 'This voter list fraud is not accidental. It it is a serious political conspiracy that exposes the anti-democratic face of the BJP-RSS,' he said. He cited the example of Bihar, where voters were allegedly removed based on religion, targeting Muslims, Adivasis, and Christians. 'In Thrissur, however, Christian votes were not deleted. Instead, fake voters were added. Mr. Gopi must reveal where these fictitious voters have now gone, who brought them here, and who funded the operation,' he said. Mr. Viswam also criticised sections of the Christian clergy for their 'political naivety.' 'When the wolf in sheep's clothing arrived, they thought it was a lamb and gave it everything it asked for. Those dazzled by gold crowns and sweet cake must read Vicharadhara carefully, especially the parts about recognising your enemies,' he said. Announcing the next phase of protests, Mr. Viswam said the CPI would organise a massive march in Thrissur city on August 16 against the alleged voter list tampering. CPI national executive member K.P. Rajendran, district secretary K.G. Sivanandan, and State council members V.S. Sunilkumar and K.K. Valsaraj also attended the press conference.
