JAIPUR: As Union Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal has been appointed as the Union law minister, political circles here are discussing whether this is a big message for the state in the wake of the ensuing Assembly elections.
The Rajasthan assembly elections are scheduled to be held before December 2023.
If political sources are to be believed, the BJP's top leadership has tried to tap into the SC segment via this move. After decades, this is the first time a Dalit leader has been given the law minister portfolio.
With this, the party's top leadership has tried to bring in a new face who is non-controversial, well-educated, former bureaucrat and a three-time MP. He is said to be a favourite of the Modi-Shah team, say BJP leaders.
He is the man who knows how to hold his anger and has never ever given any controversial statement till date, said sources.
Meanwhile, as the Assembly elections of Rajasthan are near, BJP wants to give a big message by promoting Arjun Ram Meghwal. The BJP has suffered losses on the reserved Assembly seats in Karnataka.
In such a situation, the BJP is trying to strengthen its hold on the safe seats in Rajasthan. Recently, Arjun Ram Meghwal had taken full responsibility of PM Modi's programme in the state. In such a situation, one more thing is being said that this promotion of Meghwal is indicating that he can be fielded in the Assembly elections in Rajasthan.
Meghwal is a third-time MP in this tenure. The first time he won was in 2009 by a 19,575 margin. After that his margin of victory has been increasing. In 2014, the Bharatiya Janata Party fielded Arjun Ram Meghwal from the Bikaner seat, where he won the election with more than three lakh votes. For the third consecutive time, Ram Meghwal won the election from Bikaner Lok Sabha seat by 2,640,00 votes.
Meghwal's office confirmed to IANS that they were unaware of the development till the news came.
"It's just now we have come to know about this development after the news came out."
Meanwhile, BJP's former state president Satish Poonia on his Twitter handle congratulated Meghwal. He said, "Hearty congratulations and best wishes to the popular MP from Bikaner, the voice of the underprivileged Shri @arjunrammeghwal ji on being made the Union Law Minister and since thanks and regards to the popular leader of the world, respected Prime Minister Shri @narendramodi ji from the people and workers of Rajasthan."
Currently, three MPs from Rajasthan are serving as the central government ministers, namely Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, who is cabinet minister for Jal Shakti ministry; Kailash Chaudhary as minister of state for agriculture, and Arjun Ram Meghwal.
The opposition BJP and ruling Congress in the state are expected to be in a neck-and-neck battle. In the 2018 Assembly election, the Congress wrested power from the Vasundhara Raje-led BJP government. The BJP secured only 73 seats.