HIGH JUMPERS

They had never seen the inside of even a state legislature. Now they have catapulted to the national one

MURLIDHAR MOHOL, 49

BJP Pune, Maharashtra

What that image doesn't tell you is that the man with the bullocks was also the mayor of Pune, and got it to be one of 50 Champion Cities in a 2021 global challenge. He oversaw the Metro's expansion, had a medical college set up and was praised for being hands-on during the pandemic. But the photo does exude the aroma of the village clay he's formed of: born into a native martial art ethos shaped around wrestling, he went to Kolhapur, the mecca for grapplers, to learn its finer points. One loss in a 2009 assembly poll apart, that skill has not deserted him in politics-long-time RSS/BJP youth wing incubation now blossoming into a surprise Union MoS slot. To reach it, he defeated Congress's Ravindra Dhangekar.

MAHESH KASHYAP, 48

BJP Bastar (ST), Chhattisgarh

The core ethos of the BJP's tribal outreach is expressed fully in this victor from the most canonical of tribal constituencies. The new Bastar MP began as a sarpanch in his village near Jagdalpur but was soon cutting his teeth on the right wing's anti-conversion drive, joining the Bajrang Dal as a 21-year-old in 1996, and then the VHP and a slew of kindred organisations. Besides the promotion of Hindu culture in Bastar, this Class 10 pass with six children-wife Champa is a janpad panchayat chief-also has interests in kabaddi. He beat the Congress's Kawasi Lakhma by over 55,000 votes.

RAJPALSINH JADAV, 42

BJP Panchmahal, Gujarat