With central leadership emerging much stronger, challenges for former CM Vasundhara Raje will increase.
New Delhi: The impact of the BJP’s resounding victory in Uttar Pradesh and other states can now be felt on the politics of the saffron party in Rajasthan. The victory has boosted the morale of BJP workers in the desert state on the one hand, while on the other, it has given anxious moments to the camp of former Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje.
In fact, the central leadership has emerged stronger after the BJP’s victory in four states. Now, the high command will prefer that the party should fight elections in Rajasthan without any CM face. The Raje camp will not be happy with this idea, as her supporters want her to be announced as CM candidate of BJP for the next Assembly elections to be held by the end of 2023.
At the same time, Raje has also been holding religious yatras across the state in what is seen as a show of strength by the former CM. The state BJP has always distanced itself from Raje’s events. The BJP avoided inviting Raje to official functions as well. All this is because of internal tussle for the leadership of the state BJP. So, the saffron party is in some ways divided into two factions in Rajasthan. The Congress was till other day hopeful of benefiting from the internal war of BJP. But the BJP’s four-state victory has changed the situation to a great extent. Weakened after stunning defeats in the recently held Assembly elections, the Congress is now facing more intense internal fights. With dissenters questioning the central leadership, the possibility of a split in Congress is looming large. While the Congress is grappling with infighting, the BJP has started preparation for the elections of Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh. Both the states will go to polls after six months. There is no challenge visible for BJP in these two states, which means the saffron party will have two more states in its kitty by the time it fights Rajasthan polls. With this in view, what a stronger central leadership wishes to do will happen in Rajasthan in terms of leadership or any other organizational issues.
Apart from Raje, there are several other BJP leaders who are eyeing the CM post in Rajasthan. These leaders include Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla, Union minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, Union minister Bhupender Yadav, state unit chief Satish Punia, MP Diya Kumari and Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore. Supporters of these leaders keep pushing their names for the top post every now and then. However, it is highly unpredictable whom the central leadership picks for the CM post if the party wins.
Two more states—MP and Chhattisgarh—would also go to polls along with Rajasthan next year. The BJP had registered landslide victories in all these three states in 2013 owing to the Modi wave which had just begun then. But the saffron party lost all the three states in 2018 despite the strong leadership of PM Modi and Amit Shah who was then BJP’s national president. The BJP later formed the government following a split in the ruling Congress in MP. Rajasthan has traditionally been witnessing Congress and BJP governments alternatively every five years.
There have been differences between Raje and the BJP’s central leaders ever since the former got active in state politics. Interestingly, Raje has been winning elections for over a decade despite her differences with the central leadership. She even managed to lead the party in the 2018 Assembly elections despite her tussle with the central leadership. She also then got a leader of her choice appointed BJP president in Rajasthan. However, Raje lost polls and major changes were made in the state party organisation. But she is still trying to expand her influence in the party. Before the UP results, it seemed that Raje’s future politics would be a smooth and easy affair. But the BJP’s big win in UP has given oxygen to adversaries of Raje. State BJP president Satish Punia is more active now, holding press conferences in Delhi and organizing Holi Milan in Rajasthan. His Holi event was attended by Gajendra Singh Shekhawat and Arjun Meghwal and several other MPs.
Apart from attending other political events, Punia watched “The Kashmir Files” movie. This was followed by Punia addressing his workers in a bid to boost their morale. All this suggests that after getting some indications from high command, Punia has started this kind of campaign in what is a message to Raje. This is how the political tussle will get fiercer day by day before the Assembly election in Rajasthan.