‘There is hardly any possibility of BJP announcing a CM face in Rajasthan’.
JAIPUR: The BJP central leadership looks to be quite worried even as former Rajasthan chief minister and senior party leader Vasundhara Raje continues to be adamant on her chief ministerial ambition. As Rajasthan gears up for the assembly elections at the end of this year, the high command is faced with the task of dealing with the growing internal tussle of the party.
As part of its damage-control exercise, the high command rushed general secretary and Rajasthan in charge Arun Singh to attend the event organised by Raje at the Salasar Balaji temple, and also Yuva Morcha’s political programme. But the situation is far from under control. Raje’s event drew a huge and record crowd, which was more than the gatherings that were seen at her earlier religious programmes in the past. Remarkably, only the posters of PM Narendra Modi and Raje were put up on the stage.
However, this time, the BJP high command is not going to yield to pressure from the Raje faction. Vasundhara Raje knows that her demands will not be heeded after the elections if she could not get the high command to agree to it now. Meanwhile, the Congress looks to gain from the internal problems of the BJP. The ruling party believes that the tradition to change the government every five years in Rajasthan will end now. The Congress led by Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot will return to power again after the elections this year-end. In fact, there is no anti-incumbency against CM Gehlot. His government’s schemes are making an impact among people.
The BJP leaders on the contrary believe that the tradition of the government change will continue in the desert state, as “there is a strong anti-incumbency wave against the government”.
Therefore, the leaders in BJP are fighting for the top post. Two-time CM of Rajasthan, Raje’s supporters want her declared as CM candidate for 2023 Rajasthan polls. Raje’s tussle with the high command is not new. She always managed to get ministers like Rajnath Singh and Nitin Gadkari to meet her demand for Rajasthan. During the last polls, Amit Shah, who was then party national president, had to accept Raje’s demands in the end. The same situation is being witnessed this time too. The tussle has turned into Raje versus the rest of the BJP. Raje’s show of strength on Saturday has added to leadership’s worries. The party for the first time looked to be divided sharply into two factions. One faction is led by BJP state president Satish Poonia, while the other is led by Raje. The former CM is in no mood to accept any other decision from the Delhi leadership than projecting her as CM face. The high command is also unrelenting. Rajasthan is the only state from where high command is facing a direct challenge from a leader. Meanwhile, there are speculations about a change of guard in MP.
The high command is, according to speculation, likely to replace CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan ahead of polls in Madhya Pradesh. The message now is that if the high command can think of changing a strong leader like Chouhan, then why will it accept Raje’s demand? Strategists are of the view that the BJP sweeps states on popularity of PM Narendra Modi. The victory in Nagaland and Tripura has boosted morale of the party.
So there is hardly any possibility of BJP announcing a CM face in Rajasthan. The contenders for the top post are Satish Poonia, Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla, Union minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, MP Diya Kumari and C.P. Joshi.
The leadership wanted to declare Shekhawat as CM face last time. Now, Shekhawat’s name has figured in the government toppling game in Rajasthan in 2020. The high command is, therefore, in a dilemma over the question of leadership. It is for the first time in PM Modi’s tenure so far that the schemes of a CM from a Hindi state have given anxious moments to BJP. CM Gehlot’s schemes like OPS, Chiranjeevi Swasthya Yojana, cylinder for Rs 500, loan waiver for farmers, free power, etc. are quite popular across the country. The Modi government has no plans to counter the same as well. If the BJP continues to be a divided house, it will have to suffer a big electoral loss.