With former Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje skipping the party’s Parivartan Sankalp Yatra in the state, the party workers as well as others have been left wondering if the senior BJP leader would be attending Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s upcoming rally in Jaipur. Raje’s stay in Delhi in the last 10 days, at a time when veteran BJP leaders have been visiting the desert state of Rajasthan to attend the Yatra, further triggered speculations of factionalism dominating the party even as Assembly polls in Rajasthan are just a few months away. Earlier, Raje was seen taking a leading role in BJP’s Parivartan Yatra, Suraj Sankalp Yatra and other yatras organised before the last Assembly elections.
This time too, when the Parivartan Yatras started from four places, she was seen sharing the stage with the central leadership. However, thereafter, she was away from these Yatras for about 18 days. The former Rajasthan CM is using the excuse that her daughter-in-law was suffering from a life-threatening disease and her condition was critical and that her treatment is underway in Delhi. In fact, even before the start of Parivartan Yatra, Raje did not have a clarity about her role in the polls. Surprisingly, Raje continued to maintain distance from this Yatra even in her home turf, Jhalawar. Looking at this deadlock, questions are being raised if Raje will attend Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s rally in Jaipur on September 25.
In the list of national office bearers announced by the BJP in July, Raje has been retained as national Vice President. The BJP’s strategy is to activate mass base leaders at the national level as well, instead of limiting them to a single state. The party has also tried to indicate that the elections in Rajasthan will be fought under collective leadership. However all eyes are set to see who will be given the task of state election campaign committee chief. An internal tussle is still going on in the Rajasthan BJP regarding the CM’s face and to overcome this, it has been indicated to contest elections in the collective leadership.
In Rajasthan, the party has instructed senior leaders to avoid any kind of controversy ahead of the elections. And hence the frequent visits of senior leaders who are giving a message of contesting polls unitedly. The BJP is now waiting for the formation of election committees and the committee that Raje will head will clear the air about her role. There is talk of making her the Chairman of the campaign committee or the main election committee. But it appears that Raje is unhappy that she was not projected as the chief ministerial candidate for the Assembly election later this year. With Raje skipping the party rallies in Rajasthan, the public’s lukewarm response to the BJP’s Parivartan Sankalp Yatra also spells trouble for the party.
