Vasundhara, Gehlot stare at uncertain future in Rajasthan
Vasundhara Raje & Ashok Gehlot
By Manish Anand
New Delhi, November 23: Political heat has gone soaring in Rajasthan on the last day of the campaigning for the Assembly elections. Temperatures dipped to record lows in cities such as Jaipur and Jodhpur. The people have brought out their woollen clothing. But the political leaders are sweating by trading charges against each other as they make last-minute efforts to pull the voters on their sides.
The Assembly election campaign in the state full of forts and royalties was dominated by the internal politics of both the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Congress. Both the parties without success sought to steer clear of the spoltlight on their leadership issue.
By fielding former Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje in the second list and by denying her close confidante Yunus Khan a party ticket, the BJP sent out a loud message that the saffron outfit wants a change in the leadership at the state level. The Congress also denied party ticket Mahesh Joshi, who is considered to be the close confidante of Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot. Also, the Congress refused to give tickets to some of the Gehlot loyalists. The Central leadership of both the parties dropped hints that they want a new beginning in the leadership issue in Rajasthan.
“Chief Minister, if the BJP is elected to power in Rajasthan, will be decided by the MLAs of the party in their legislature party meeting,” said Union Minister for Home Affairs Amit Shah during a press conference in Jaipur on Thursday. He was responding to the reporter’s question on party’s chief ministerial candidate.
While Congress has sought to buy peace with rebellious Sachin pilot in Rajasthan, the party has been seen to be unwilling to take risk to go after Gehlot even while he had turned down the offer to become the official candidate for the post of the party president. By denying tickets to his close followers, the Congress has shown low-risk taking capability in Rajasthan while being mindful that Gehlot is a strong following within the organisation.
But the BJP has been bold on the leadership front. The BJP decided tickets for the candidates totally in a centralised manner. Also, the BJP ran a centralised campaign with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Shah and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath leading the party’s campaigning in Rajasthan.
Political observers believe that Raje may have to settle to accept the fate to sit in the Assembly with a new face taking charge of the affairs of the government in the event the BJP wins the election comfortably on the lines of former Chief Minister of Karnataka BS Yediyurappa. The BJP had replaced Yediyurappa with Basavaraj Bommai one and a half years before the Karnataka Assembly election.
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