JAIPUR: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leadership has denied requests of several top ministers in the Vasundhara Raje-led Rajasthan government to allow them to change their constituencies for the Assembly polls in the state on December 7, state party unit officials said on Wednesday.
The ministers and leaders had asked that their seats be changed in order to fight off anti-incumbency, said state BJP officials who were familiar with developments. Rajasthan traditionally sees a change of government every five years.
BJP national president Amit Shah has reportedly issued guidelines which bar candidates from changing their seats.
The party’s state election in-charge Prakash Javadekar has said candidates may be changed for some seats in the state to capitalise the chances of winning.
The ministers who want a change of seats include Housing and Urban Development Minister Shrichand Kriplani, Public Works Department Minister Yunus Khan, Cooperatives Minister Ajay Singh Kilak and Rural Development and Panchayati Raj Minister Rajendra Rathore. Several senior leaders of the party’s state unit were also on the list.
They include Narpat Singh Rajvi, son-in-law of BJP veteran and former vice president Bhairon Singh Shekhawat and the deputy Speaker of the Rajasthan Assembly Rao Rajendra Singh.
According to the party officials, party brass feels that changing seats now may send out a “wrong message”.
Raje herself had said earlier that she would fight from her old seat of Jhalrapatan.
Shah is reportedly keeping a tight control over election-related decisions.
The core committee has sent a list of candidates for all 200 seats to the BJP headquarters in New Delhi where the party parliamentary board will take a final call, said the officials.
The Opposition said the decision signals the party’s nervousness.
“The desire to change their seats shows how nervous BJP ministers are. They failed to perform and did nothing for five years and now they want to escape the battleground. When the ship sinks the mice are the first to flee. BJP’s ship is about to sink in Rajasthan,” Congress MP and chairman of election campaign committee in Rajasthan, Raghu Sharma said.