Marathas were reluctant kings and lacked the ability to be the real kings of India inspite of being ferocious warriors. While Peshwa Bajirao created regional satraps like Gaikwads, Scindhias & Holkars, they lacked the vision to unify India. They defeated Rajput kings and forced them to pay the same chowth and hafta for protection and never tried to bring them within the fold of Maratha empire while Chatrapati Shivaji Maharaj and Holkars called them themselves to be descendants of Mewar dynasty. They could have easily given Khud Mukhtari and be a regional satrap who would contribute troops for their war campaigns while being a part of extended Hindu Maratha empire. The imposition of such hge taxes on the Rajput kings resulted in exploitation of hindu farmers who had to pay much higher part of their produce to their kings to make up for the demands of Marathas.
When the battlelines were drawn for third battle of Panipat, marathas went to Rajput kings, asking for help in the battle. They put a condition that you need to give us freedom to rule our kingdom and reduce the chowth, Marathas refused. The Rajput kings refused to join them in battle and agreed to continue to pay them chowth. Jaats under maharaja Surajmal Joined the war effort and the Jaats had the finest cavalry of all times as they were medium cavalry with the finest horses looted from Mongol armies which used to transit between Delhi and Deccan. Those horse were also *censored* and Jaats had the most ferocious war fighting capability compared to even rajput armies of the day. The Rajput kings had put a condition to support Marathas in the battle which was rejected by the regional satraps like Scindhias and Gaikwads.
Only people who wanted to replace Mongols as kings of India were the Jaats under Maharaja Surajmal and their army was led by one of my ancestors.
However Malharrao, entered into a secret understanding with Najib Khan who was the most hated and most targeted person by Jaat rulers. Maharaja Surajmal wanted to be placed against the front occupied by Najib Khan to kill him but Malharrao intervened and called Maharaja Surajmal unreliable resulting in him being declared a person non grata and jaat forces were to be finished off next day by marathas. In the middle of the night, Maharaja Surajmal and his forces left the Maratha camp and returned to faridabad with Holkars in hot pursuit. No son of a bitch can ever deny this as my own family stopped Holkars under the Kalkaji Temple in Delhi and forced them to withdraw who were chasing Jaat forces. My family had crowned Maharaja Surajmal as the King of Delhi before this battle.