Who is the face of BJP in Rajasthan? Where is Vasundhara Raje standing today?
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Standing on the threshold of assembly elections, political developments are changing very fast in Rajasthan. While on one hand the long-standing tussle between CM Ashok Gehlot and Sachin Pilot in the Congress party has calmed down a bit. At the same time, rumors have started about the role of the biggest leader of the state and former Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje in BJP. Recently Vasundhara Raje has met BJP President JP Nadda in Delhi. It is being told that this meeting of Vasundhara happened due to the statement of BJP’s National Organization General Secretary BL Santosh, in which he had claimed that the party will go to the ground in the assembly elections only on the face of PM Narendra Modi. This statement of Santosh created a stir in the politics of Rajasthan. Discussions started happening that Vasundhara Raje’s political career is over now.
Let us tell you that BJP wanted many times that Vasundhara should be honored by giving her the post of Governor or Minister in the Center. But Vasundhara refused saying not to leave Rajasthan. But now when the state is on the verge of elections, at that time this statement of the central leader did not go down well with Vasundhara. The former CM immediately got her car turned towards Delhi and went to meet BJP national president JP Nadda. The purpose of this meeting was to know what would be his role in the coming assembly elections. In the meeting which lasted for about 1 hour, Vasundhara was sent to Jaipur with assurance. It is not known what transpired in the meeting. But if experts are to be believed, for the BJP which is looking for power in the coming assembly elections in Rajasthan, bypassing Vasundhara may prove to be difficult.
Congress poses challenge to BJP
Assembly elections are to be held in the state in the month of December this year. In the 2018 Lok Sabha elections, the Congress had thrown the BJP out of power. In these elections, the Congress had won 100 out of 200 seats, while the BJP was reduced to 73 seats. While 13 seats went to the independents, the BSP managed to win 6 seats. One seat away from majority, Gehlot first got 6 BSP MLAs merged with Congress. And with the support of some independent MLAs, he is going to complete five years of his government. If we look at the political history of Rajasthan, from the year 1990 till now no Chief Minister has returned after completing five years. Every time BJP and Congress have been in power once each. But this time some welfare schemes of CM Ashok Gehlot have posed a challenge to the BJP. At the same time, the ongoing factionalism in the state BJP has also emerged as a big crisis for it. This is the reason why nothing is clear on who will be the face of the Chief Minister from the BJP side in the state. But for Vasundhara, the most influential leader of Rajasthan and two-time chief minister, this election is believed to decide her political stature.
Is BJP really hesitating to bet on Vasundhara Raje?
There is also talk in political circles that BJP is not ready to bet on Vasundhara Raje in any way. Because Congress leader Sachin Pilot has been continuously accusing the former Vasundhara Raje government of corruption. A few days back, Sachin Pilot had staged a silent protest against his own government for not taking action against the corruption in the Vasundhara government. During this, he said that the government should take action against the corruption in the Vasundhara government. Although Vasundhara also did not delay in replying to Sachin Pilot, she had clearly said in the Kota rally that an unrighteous person never gets Rajyoga. There is also a lot of discussion in political circles about the sister-brother relationship between Congress CM Ashok Gehlot and Vasundhara. Experts tell that from time to time both stand to help each other. The stature of Vasundhara in Rajasthan is due to which even the central leadership of BJP is not taking the risk of ignoring Vasundhara. We saw its hallmark in Udaipur on 30th June. In Udaipur, when Home Minister Amit Shah and Rajasthan BJP leaders were present on the stage. At that time, Leader of Opposition in Rajasthan Legislative Assembly Rajendra Singh Rathore was addressing on the stage. Rathore called the name of Home Minister Amit Shah for the speech. During this, slogans of Amit Shah Zindabad were also raised loudly. But then Shah interrupted Rathore and indicated that Vasundhara Raje, who was sitting with him on the stage, should make a speech. On the order of Amit Shah, Vasundhara requested him that you are the first, but Amit Shah requested Vasundhara to address him first with folded hands.
Many faces of CM in BJP
Senior journalist Shyam Sundar Sharma says that it is a bit difficult to understand the politics of BJP’s central leadership in Rajasthan. He told that on the one hand, when Amit Shah comes to Udaipur, he is seen promoting Vasundhara Raje, whereas when the Prime Minister comes to Bikaner, Vasundhara Raje is not even called. In fact, the Rajasthan assembly elections are a big challenge for the BJP because the announcement of the Lok Sabha elections will also be made only after three months of these elections. In the last two Lok Sabha elections, BJP has managed to win 25 out of 25 seats in Rajasthan. And this time also the party has to repeat the same performance in Rajasthan. But this time factionalism in Rajasthan BJP seems to be a big challenge. Political experts tell that there are many contenders for the post of Chief Minister in BJP and the lesson