Did Delhi-based leaders spoil the party’s prospects in the election-bound state?
It has been more than two weeks since the elections were announced, but BJP is still not able to pick up the pace of the campaign in Rajasthan. On the other hand, Congress is maintaining the lead in terms of campaigning. It is also giving guarantees. This is the first election in Rajasthan in which the ruling party seems to be getting an upper hand over the opposition.
In private conversations, BJP functionaries admit this situation is due to some leaders sitting in Delhi. Ignoring former Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje and former state president Satish Poonia is definitely impacting the campaign. It is also said that these days, the politics of Rajasthan BJP is revolving around Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla and Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar. Om Birla is an MP from Kota.
Being the Speaker, Birla is considered close to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah. He may have Chief Ministerial ambitions. His supporters are also trying to create an atmosphere on this line in every Assembly constituency.
There are indications that the top leadership, trusting Birla, took the state organisational issues lightly. As a result, there were decisions that harmed the party’s unity. Presently, there is a group of Om Birla, State President C.P. Joshi, and Leader of Opposition Rajendra Rathore. State in-charge Arun Singh and Organization General Secretary Chandrashekhar are fully supporting him. Union Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat is said to be with him, but perhaps he is not being given that much importance now.
The second issue is related to Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar. Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot has already raised questions regarding his frequent visits to Rajasthan. Dhankhar comes from Rajasthan. He is a Jat by caste.
The party feels that after the removal of Satish Poonia from the post of state president, the agitated Jats can be mollified by Dhankhar. Although Dhankhar does not give any political statement, he keeps praising the decisions of the Modi government. Some say that he was consulted in distribution of tickets as well.
Another reason why BJP lagged behind in the state is the internal tussle for the post of Chief Minister. Former CM Raje was a strong contender. Satish Poonia, who carried the BJP flag for more than four years, was also considered a face. Speaker Om Birla, a powerful leader sitting in Delhi, and Union Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat were also discussed among the contenders.
Other Union Ministers Bhupendra Yadav, Ashwani Vaishnaw along with MPs Diya Kumari and Rajyavardhan Rathore etc. were also in the discussion for CM face. Except Yadav and Vaishnaw, all the leaders united against Raje and Poonia.
The leaders in Delhi were sure that the BJP would win going by the Rajasthan tradition of changing governments. The Birla faction started making high command decide according to what suits its agenda. First of all, Poonia was removed and C.P. Joshi, who had less support base, was given the command of the state party unit and many other changes were made. As a result, BJP got divided into many factions.
Therefore, all the yatras undertaken to create momentum ahead of elections flopped. The high command felt that something had gone wrong. National BJP President J.P. Nadda started efforts to unite the party. But it did not work out. Ticket distribution was also faulty.
On the other hand, Congress, under the leadership of Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot, succeeded in giving the message of unity. Chief Minister Gehlot’s welfare schemes were successful in creating an atmosphere in favour of Congress among the common people.
On the other hand, the BJP looked like a divided house. The party tried to give the message of “all is well” by giving tickets to Raje and her supporters, but things did not seem to have worked.
Disgruntled leaders are still raising protests. The party workers are not able to understand who their leader is and what to do. Everything is in disarray. The party workers are still pinning their hopes on Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Congress has started giving the message: will Modi become the Chief Minister? This move could also backfire for BJP.
None of the leaders on whose advice the decisions were taken so far has any hold on the state. Congress seems to be benefiting from the mistakes made by BJP in Rajasthan.
BJP has not been able to cultivate a leader in the last five years. Now, it is only Prime Minister Modi on whom the BJP is banking heavily.