JAIPUR: Union Home Minister Amit Shah’s trip to Udaipur on Friday delivered a powerful message to the Rajasthan BJP. Shah arrived in the Lake City to address a rally and the leader of the Opposition, Rajendra Rathore, was entrusted to manage the event. During the rally, after state party chief CP Joshi’s speech, Rathore wanted to invite the Union Home Minister to the stage. However, Shah signalled Rathore to invite former chief minister Vasundhara Raje before him.
This unexpected move has sparked intense speculation in political circles of the desert state, particularly fuelled by photographs showing Raje and Shah together in a car. The BJP has chosen not to declare a chief ministerial candidate for Rajasthan for the assembly polls due later this year. Instead, the party plans to rely on the popularity of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
However, recent developments suggest that the party’s top leadership may be reconsidering this strategy. A sign of this shift was seen through Raje’s prominent presence at PM Modi’s recent rally in Ajmer last month. During the previous elections in Rajasthan, the popular slogan was, “Vasundhara is BJP and BJP is Vasundhara.” Nevertheless, due to the perceived sidelining of Raje by the leadership in recent years, the party appeared badly divided, with various leaders vying for the coveted CM post. This internal strife has left party workers puzzled, unsure of which faction to align with. The differences among influential party leaders are seen in multiple party events.
In light of these circumstances, analysts believe that the BJP’s top leadership is reluctant to continue with its present experiment in Rajasthan. Instead, they may opt to declare Vasundhara Raje as the Chief Ministerial face well in advance of the elections, as they have done in the past four elections.
This move could potentially reinvigorate Raje’s political career, challenging the seemingly one-sided contest faced by the Congress. Both the parties should brace themselves for an intense poll battle in the days to come.
Two big public rallies of the BJP top brass in Rajasthan in the last two days have created a buzz about the return of former CM Vasundhara Raje to the centre stage of the party. The gestures shown by party president JP Nadda and Union Home Minister Amit Shah towards Vasundhara Raje in their public meetings at Bharatpur and Udaipur respectively have indicated that Raje may be the front-runner for the face of the party in the coming assembly elections of Rajasthan.
Raje’s address on Friday also indicated that she was going to get prominence in the poll campaign of the party. She asked party workers to work hard for the elections and at the same time, warned them to not be overconfident. “Ganga khud chal kar nahin aati hai (Ganga won’t come to you on its own),” said Raje to the workers.
In Bharatpur too, where Nadda came to address the public meeting on Thursday, Raje was given the chance to address the public just before Nadda. She came to the meeting with Nadda in his car and was given the due importance in the meeting. The videos of Shah and Raje have gone viral in Rajasthan and the political corridors of the state are busy speculating about the role Raje is expected to play in the coming days.