Party leadership may go for big decisions in Rajasthan if saffron party retains Uttar Pradesh.
New Delhi: With the internal fight in the BJP in Rajasthan intensifying, the party high command may have to face a major problem tackling it in days to come. The situation has come to such a pass that the state in-charge Arun Singh had to rush to Jaipur to intervene. The party is presently divided in two camps. But it may see more groups coming up in future in Rajasthan like other states, with some state leaders emerging powerful at the Central level.
The BJP high command has been entrusting Rajasthan leaders with significant responsibilities. Bhupender Yadav, who was appointed minister recently, has been on important posts in the organisation. Yadav was the main strategist for the party during Bihar elections. Now, he has been given responsibility for Manipur. Similarly, Union minister Gajendra Singh has been given the responsibility of Punjab where the BJP will fight polls on its own.
Another Rajasthan leader and central minister Arjun Meghwal has been given responsibilities in Uttar Pradesh under the leadership of Dharmendra Pradhan. So, the stature of these three leaders have risen tremendously. As far as state politics is concerned, Yadav and Meghwal are at safe distance from camp fighting in Rajasthan. But Shekhawat is active in state politics, and the present team is said to be close to him.
The present team of BJP leaders is getting along well with the supporters of former chief minister and national vice president of the party Vasundhara Raje. The ongoing infighting has given anxious moments to the high command.
Recently, senior leader Kailash Meghwal’s letter has heated up the party politics in Rajasthan. He has levelled serious allegations against another BJP leader Gulab Chand Katariya, demanding his removal from Leader of Opposition post. BJP national president J.P. Nadda immediately rushed state in-charge Arun Singh to douse the fire.
Arun Singh may have managed to broker a temporary truce but the problem has not ended as yet. What concerned the high command more is that Meghwal wrote the letter amid the Assembly session. As a result, the BJP got entangled in its own inner politics instead of cornering the government. This also gave the faction-ridden Congress a chance to take potshots at BJP. The groupism was rampant during the Panchayat elections as well. Both the Congress and the BJP had to face factionalism during the panchayat polls. In fact, all the infighting began in BJP during the 2018 Assembly elections. After losing in polls, the BJP high command started sidelining Raje. Raje managed to get support from leadership, but her supporters were targeted despite that. Raje supporters also started taking the BJP team head on. Kailash Meghwal’s letter bomb is part of this intense fighting.
Significantly, Rohitash Sharma, who was expelled from the party for six years, will soon carry out Jan Jagran Abhiyan in support of Vasundhara Raje.
Observers believe that it will be difficult for the high command to ignore Raje who is the only leader who has a strong mass base in the entire state. The next year Assembly elections, particularly the Uttar Pradesh elections, will impact the politics of Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh. If the BJP repeats 2017 poll results, then the high command may go for big experiments in both the states.