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!
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.
Rudy’s victory marked the culmination of weeks of an intriguing political battle between the two ruling party MPs, one that brought to the surface a vertical split within the BJP that, until now, had only been whispered about in political circles.
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.
कांस्टीट्यूशन क्लब ऑफ़ इंडिया में गवर्निंग काउंसिल की जीत के पश्चात भव्य स्वागत का आयोजन किया गया। धन्यवाद।#ConstitutionalClub #rajivprataprudy @ccoi_1947 pic.twitter.com/yTvm1BLOYB
— Rajiv Pratap Rudy (@RajivPratapRudy) August 13, 2025
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)
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