JaipurA new political poster has created a buzz ahead of the assembly elections to be held in Rajasthan next year. It is called: “say from heartvasundhara Again“(Dil se kaho, Vasundhara again for chief minister). No one has any idea of who is behind these posters, but the message to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) high command is unmistakable: Vasundhara Raje herself a for the BJP. The CM is ready to fight to be projected as the face, whether the top leadership of the party likes it or not.
So far, the posters and slogans have been a handy guide to the political pulse of Rajasthan, a state where the post of CM has been a nearly two-decade-long play of musical chairs between BJP leader Vasundhara Raje and Congress’ Ashok Gehlot.
For example, before Raje became chief minister in 2003, the BJP led a high-octane election campaign with Gehlot’s slogan. will come, famine will comeGehlot will go, there will be famine (If Gehlot comes, drought will come, if Gehlot goes, it will be dry). In 2008, the opposition Congress coined the slogan “8 pm, no CM” – commenting on Raje’s perceived inaccessibility. She lost that election.
But in 2018, a section of the BJP had also turned against Raje, who has been chief minister since 2013. In that year’s assembly election, “Modi” don’t hate youvasundhara you are not well‘ echoed across Rajasthan, suggesting that people wanted to teach him a lesson, though he had no complaints against Narendra Modi. Congress won that election and Gehlot returned to CM’s seat.
Raje has been involved in this since then. struggle for power With state BJP president Satish Poonia, but despite his stature as a mass leader, the high command has shown some signs of willingness to put him in the limelight and is instead trying foster new leaders,
The latest posters advocating Raje’s return as chief minister come at a time when BJP general secretary and Rajasthan in-charge Arun Singh is preparing to launch a state-wide campaign. Travel Over the next six months to oversee the preparations for the elections.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah is also hope to participate A meeting of the party’s OBC Morcha in Jodhpur, the home constituency of Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot, next week. Significantly, Jodhpur is also the parliamentary constituency of Union Jal Shakti Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, a potential chief ministerial contender, whose appointment as state BJP president in 2018 was stalled by Raje. The message cannot be lost on him.
But the Raje vs Shekhawat battle is not the only thing plaguing BJP strategists in Rajasthan, where several factions and chief ministerial candidates are battling for relevance despite repeated requests from the high command.Unity“Before the election.
Meanwhile, the party has maintained the official line that the high command will make all-important decisions for the election, no matter all the sound and fury within the party’s ranks.
“Everyone wants to be the chief minister. This does not mean that their claims are taken seriously. I don’t think there is any weight with any name floating around. The BJP parliamentary board will take the final decision,” BJP Rajasthan chief spokesperson Ramlal Sharma said.
open fighting
A game of war is going on in Rajasthan BJP. For example, this July, a video of two senior BJP leaders – Rajya Sabha MP Kirori Lal Meena and Deputy Leader of Opposition in Rajasthan Assembly Rajendra Rathore – went viral. heated argument Just before the then presidential candidate Draupadi Murmu reached Jaipur.
The controversy apparently started when Meena burst into a diatribe about Rathore not allowing 28 of his Adivasi supporters in the conference room.
As the crowd of leaders increased, Gajendra Singh Shekhawat intervened and took Meena aside to pacify him.
Congress left no stone unturned to add fuel to the fire. Rajasthan Congress President Govind Singh Dotasara said in a tweet written in Hindi poetry, “These are the contenders for the chair, throwing mud at each other.”
All “chairs” are made of
challenge
young till young
From the public no. pic.twitter.com/f07MXTQUhI— Govind Singh Dotasra (@GovindDotasra) 13 July 2022
This was one of those incidents where the Rajasthan BJP could no longer keep fighting indoors, and swords were drawn in public. This happened after BJP national president JP Nadda had asked party workers to show a united front a day earlier.
But the lava that came out that day has been cooking under the surface for some time. And it is not limited to two persons.
Top picks of the high command?
While Gajendra Singh Shekhawat is being seen as the choice of the BJP high command as Raje’s successor, state BJP president Poonia has not hidden his ambition. He regularly clashes with Raje and has announced that the party will go with him as Modi’s face in the elections, virtually rejecting his CM candidacy.
However, Shekhawat is diplomatic in his words and actions. The same is said about Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla, but like Shekhawat he will not say a word about his future plans. These three – Poonia, Shekhawat and Birla – enjoy the trust of Modi and Shah, albeit to varying degrees.
“The central leadership favors Shekhawat. Not only that he is an RSS [Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh] Favourite, he also defeated Ashok Gehlot’s son in the parliamentary election in Jodhpur. But his sphere of influence is limited to western Rajasthan,” claimed a BJP source.
However, what further quells the pitch for the BJP in Rajasthan is the fact that there are many more CM aspirants who are not actually faction leaders but are nonetheless taking solitary plows to establish themselves for the top post. .
‘Underdog’ in the mix
Several chief ministerial candidates in the Rajasthan BJP are said to have included Gulab Chand Kataria, Ghanshyam Tiwari, Rajendra Rathore and Kirori Lal Meena, each clearly running a campaign of sorts for themselves.
Meena, for instance, belongs to neither Raje nor Poonia faction. He quit the BJP in 2008 after differences with Raje, joined the National People’s Party (NPP) and was instrumental in Poonia’s defeat in the 2013 assembly election by pitting an NPP candidate against him. His wife Golma Devi had joined the Gehlot government as a minister in 2008.
Meena before the 2018 assembly elections Returned For BJP and was nominated by the party to Rajya Sabha.
BJP functionaries say that that year, although Meena helped Punia win the assembly election from Amber constituency, relations between the two remained cold. Meena has an independent relationship with the BJP high command and keeps flexing his muscles by organizing public meetings and events.
Then there is Rajendra Rathore, a former loyalist of Raje, who has distanced himself from him. with him Claimed That he is not the chief ministerial candidate, but is unclear about Raje’s candidature. He says that the BJP high command will decide.
Although he has many supporters. For example, the Kshatriya Yuva Sangh, an influential organization of Rajputs who huge rally In Jaipur last December, Rathore is vocal about his choice as CM.
“Vasundhara Yes Now it is busy in appeasing the Jats. We think Rajendra Rathore will make a good chief minister,” Mahavir Singh, a member of the Kshatriya Yuva Sangh, told ThePrint.
Another hopeful is Ghanshyam Tiwari, an old Raj-hater and evergreen CM aspirant.
After prolonged differences with Raje, the six-time MLA quit the BJP in 2018 and formed his own political outfit. He also shared the stage with Rahul Gandhi ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. He returned to the BJP in December 2020.
In a very subtle message to BJP high command Raje Nominated him to Rajya Sabha in May. Even at the age of 74, Tiwari looks optimistic about his political future.
Asked about Poonia’s suggestion that the retirement age should be 70 years, Tiwari said BS Yediyurappa, 79, has been retired. BJP included in parliamentary board, He has also been holding meetings to present himself as a Brahmin face.
On Thursday, he was seen doing ‘A’ in a video.sage worship rituals‘ Program.
Poonia’s suggestion about the retirement age has also been rejected by the Leader of Opposition in the Assembly Gulab Chand Kataria (77).
Like Tiwari and Poonia, Kataria also enjoys strong support from the RSS. As Home Minister in the Vasundhara Raje government, he always represented the ‘second camp’. Kataria after the BJP’s defeat in the by-elections held last November. overshadow the kingSaying that she was a star campaigner “just in name”.
In 2013 also, Kataria was one of those who opposed Raje’s re-election as Chief Minister. For now, though, he’s keeping his cards close to his chest.
“It (reports of discord) is a figment of the media’s imagination,” Kataria said. Whatever the central leadership says, we will follow it.
Former BJP MLA Gyan Dev Ahuja, one of Raje’s critics, was more outspoken: “You can write it. Raje’s career as chief minister is over. He has lost his influence. She will never become CM again.
,Tens of people are currently roaming around to become CM. (At least 10 leaders want to be the next CM face),” said a former minister. Ahuja said, “First ask these candidates to win their seats properly and then show CM’s ambition.”
‘Vasundhara is still the strongest leader’
Despite her many detractors, Vasundhara Raje still enjoys respect as a mass leader and is not easily written off.
“Vasundhara Raje remains the strongest leader of the state. If he is not selected as CM candidate, there are at least 47 seats across Rajasthan where he can get 5,000-10,000 vote share. [in a seat], We cannot win the bus without him,” said a former MLA from Mewar region on condition of anonymity.
“However, I do not think the party will announce the CM candidate before the elections. And the announcement of the Chief Minister’s election will entirely depend on the central leadership. A decision, including that of Miss Raje, will be respected,” said the former MLA.
Narpat Singh Rajvi, a senior BJP leader, said, “If we choose candidates on the basis of caste, it will be the downfall of the BJP.”
“I am not a fan of Vasundhara. But the name that is going on now has no acceptance in the public or the party. It is one thing to be the leader of the party and another thing to be the leader of the house.
(Edited by Asawari Singh)
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