Ahead of the Assembly elections in Rajasthan, the BJP has left everyone surprised by giving tickets to six Lok Sabha MPs, one Rajya Sabha MP and two former MPs. Just as in Madhya Pradesh where the BJP created a buzz around the Chief Minister’s face by giving tickets to many MPs, in Rajasthan too it has sparked a discussion by fielding seven sitting MPs. The BJP’s first list of names for 41 Assembly seats gives many messages. By fielding new candidates on 29 out of the 41 seats, the party has made it clear that there will be no compromise.
The first list doesn’t represent any camps active in Rajasthan and shows that it has come directly from the Narendra Modi-Amit Shah camp. The BJP high command has taken the ticket decisions on the basis of its own survey rather than on the state leadership. The message given through the list says that the party is the main thing. The seven MPs may have been fielded on different seats to counter reports that the BJP is facing a tough fight against the ruling Congress in the elections due to the strong social welfare policies announced by the Congress.
The BJP’s surveys mentioned that there was a tough fight even though the party had an upper hand in the state. So, the party has not taken any risk and is aiming at getting a good number of Assembly seats this time. The BJP has tried to put the Congress on the back foot by fielding big names in the form of the seven MPs. It has also become clear from this list that there will be other MPs in the forthcoming lists. Now, questions are being raised if those who were denied tickets to make way for the MPs will be happy.
Further, there are many questions being raised about the absence of former Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje’s name in the first list. It’s not that Vasundhara has been completely sidelined. It is true that a strategy has been made to field veterans on the seats which are lagging behind in the survey. Raje’s supporters have got tickets on many seats but tickets have also been cut at some constituencies. What will hurt Vasundhara is that some of her strong loyalists have been denied tickets.
Further, the BJP has also given consideration to the Gurjar community which has been considered the vote bank of the party. Earlier, Vasundhara had also been getting a lot of help from this vote bank. Due to the entry of Sachin Pilot in the 2018 elections, this vote bank swung in favour of the Congress and the BJP suffered huge losses. The BJP has sprung a surprise in this list by giving a ticket to Vijay Bainsla, son of Colonel Kirori Singh Bainsla, who led the Gurjar reservation movement. This is aimed at garnering support from the Gurjar community.
