NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi is likely to intervene for clearing the list of BJP candidates in Rajasthan as the stand-off between BJP chief Amit Shah and Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje shows no sign of ending.
The BJP Central Election Committee is likely to meet either on November 9 or 10 to take up the list of candidates for approval for the December 7 Assembly election. “There’s a difference of view point between the central leadership of the BJP and the chief minister. Consequently, there’s no concurrence yet on the yardstick to select the nominees in less than a month,” said a senior BJP functionary, who said the PM is likely to intervene for resolving the stand-off.
Raje is keen to back a large number of sitting MLAs, who are known to from her camp. However, sources said Shah has got a separate list of candidates prepared on the basis of the feedback of the party workers through an exercise with the involvement of central leaders hailing from the state.
“The feedback from the party workers is overwhelmingly adverse for a large number of sitting legislators. Therefore, the BJP chief is steadfast that there should be multiple choices of candidates for about 150 seats in Rajasthan. Raje doesn’t favour such a deep surgery in the ranks of the sitting legislators on the grounds that the party could run into a large-scale rebellion in election times,” a source said.
Shah and Raje had earlier been locked in brinkmanship over the appointment of the BJP’s new state unit chief, as the former seemingly backed Shekhawat for the post while the latter strongly opposed his nomination.
Raje met the BJP chief last week over the issue of finalising the candidates, but the discussions remained inconclusive. Raje has also held parleys with Union Minister Prakash Javdekar, who is the state election in-charge.
“The PM may listen to the arguments of the chief minister for avoiding a large-scale dropping of the sitting legislators. The Chief Minister may be hoping that Modi can help the party leaders find a middle ground so that the party remains united in the run up to the elections,” added the BJP functionary.