Rajasthan BJP chief C.P. Joshi fails to unite various factions of the party in the state.
Jaipur
Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot’s leg injury may have kept him away from action for a few days, but the BJP has no reason to be hopeful about any significant change in the atmosphere that looks to be favouring Congress so far.
The BJP strategists are aware that the “positive atmosphere” that Gehlot’s Mehangai Rahat Camps created in the state remains unaffected despite the CM’s inability to meet people as part of campaign. In fact, CM Gehlot is communicating with the voters directly through video-conferencing from his residence. The BJP could not build any big political campaign to corner Gehlot so far. The BJP was seeing an opportunity in the “Red Diary” controversy to corner Gehlot. Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his rally in Sikar also slammed Congress over this row. But former minister Rajendra Singh Gudha, who made certain revelations about the “Red Diary”, seems to be taking a U-turn on the same. He seems to be seeking to go back to Congress fold, which is a big setback for the BJP. The Congress seems to have controlled the damage. In fact, Congress was already not taking Gudha seriously, given his track-record of shoot and scoot. He had levelled serious allegations against BJP leaders, including Amit Shah.
While Congress has decided to fight polls on the face of Gehlot and on his welfare schemes, the BJP is yet to put its house in order. The only challenge that the Congress is facing is anti-incumbency against ministers and MLAs in Rajasthan. The party can tackle this challenge by giving tickets to new faces. The leadership has already indicated to the MLAs that they can be dropped. They have been asked to suggest some other names for potential candidates. If Congress changes candidates without any backlash, then the fight will be tougher for BJP. The BJP is struggling to unite factions. Moreover, the change of guard replacing Satish Poonia with C.P. Joshi as BJP state chief has turned out to be a counterproductive move.
Joshi failed to make any impact. Factionalism has intensified. Former CM Vasundhara Raje has not been declared CM face as of today due to which her supporters are unhappy. If the central BJP projects any face, over half a dozen contenders may be working against him or her. The party is giving importance to Raje, but her supporters are not satisfied. BJP does not seem to be in a battle mode. PM Modi’s visits do charge the atmosphere for BJP for some time. But it dissipates soon after the visits end. The saffron party is ready to fight polls on PM Modi’s face. But Rajasthan may go the Karnataka way if BJP fails to energise local level functionaries for elections.