Former Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje may be asked to be active at the central level.
New Delhi: The BJP in Rajasthan may see some key organizational changes next year. There are indications that the party high command may shift former Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje from the state politics. She may be asked to be active at the central level.
Raje is currently national vice president of the BJP but she remains active in Rajasthan politics. The high command is likely to push a new leader in the state politics in her place. Senior party leader and Union minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat is the front runner as of now. The central leadership is giving him key responsibilities as well. What is being seen as an important development is that Shekhawat has been given the responsibility of West Bengal elections.
In view of this, Shekhawat is being seen as a first choice for the high command when it comes to giving leadership roles to someone in Rajasthan.
However, the high command is also considering some other names.
After the Bihar victory, the BJP is also going ahead with its Bengal plan as well. The party leadership is being seen in a strong position after such performances. The high command is said to be unhappy with some of the BJP leaders in Rajasthan, considering them to be responsible for allowing the Ashok Gehlot Congress to save the government in the state. The party leadership is understood to have gathered information that these leaders were in touch with the Congress at the time of the crisis.
As a result of this, the high command has changed the BJP’s strategy in Rajasthan. As part of this changed strategy, Ghanshyam Tiwari, who is a known adversary of Raje, is back in state politics. Manvendra Singh, son of Jaswant Singh who was an adversary of Raje, will also be back in BJP very soon. Several other leaders like Devendra Singh Bhati will also be brought back to the party.
In a significant development, NDA ally RLP’s Hanuman Beniwal is vocal against Raje nowadays. He has accused Raje of being hand-in-glove with Gehlot.
What is surprising is that the high command is not defending Raje who is a senior office bearer of the party. The high command was keen to get Shekhawat to centre stage of Rajasthan politics during the 2018 Assembly polls, but it couldn’t be possible because of Raje’s objection. Shekhawat is considered close to Amit Shah.
It will be difficult for the BJP to shift Raje from Rajasthan politics as she continues to have a strong grip over the nitty gritty of state politics, with more than half of the total number of BJP MLAs supporting her. But the electoral victories have given the high command confidence enough to deal with “possible challenge” from Raje.
The BJP will be looking for an opportunity to capitalize on weaknesses of the Congress once it succeeds in shifting Raje out of state politics.