Jaipur: BJP’s chief ministerial candidate for Rajasthan will be decided by the party’s parliamentary board and no one else, Union minister and state leader Gajendra Singh Shekhawat told ThePrint in an interaction Wednesday, adding that former chief minister Vasundhara Raje too could not be ruled out as a possible contender.
The formidable Raje, along with Shekhawat, has long been speculated to be in the CM race if the BJP won the assembly polls in the state currently ruled by the Congress.
Replying to a query on Raje’s photos gracing BJP’s election-related posters and whether it signalled that she was a CM contender, Shekhawat said: “No possibility can be denied in politics.”
“Vasundhara Raje is undoubtedly our senior leader. She is the national vice-president of the BJP, has been the state unit chief and has served as CM twice. The possibility [of Raje being chosen as CM] can’t be ignored, but at the same time her presence [her image] on posters can’t be synonymous with anything,” he added.
Earlier, when the party wanted to make Shekhawat the Rajasthan BJP president, Raje had reportedly opposed the move and the late Madan Lal Saini was instead given the post.
“As I said, all party members will choose their leader in a democratic manner and the parliamentary board will put its stamp of approval and that person will lead the BJP government in Rajasthan. We will work in tandem with that leader,” Shekhawat emphasised, asserting that “there are many able leaders in the BJP”.
Rajasthan will vote for a new assembly Saturday, 25 November, with the counting of votes scheduled for 3 December.
The BJP has so far not named its CM candidate in Rajasthan and is contesting the state elections under collective leadership, with PM Narendra Modi as the face of the party’s poll campaign.
In his interaction with ThePrint, Shekhawat played down allegations of a leadership crisis in the Rajasthan BJP unit and infighting in the party, attacked the Ashok Gehlot-led Congress government for “appeasement politics” and dismissed rumours about being a CM aspirant himself.
“There is no leadership crisis in the BJP and no infighting. The BJP is fortunate to have the most popular face and leader in PM Modi. That’s why we are standing for the elections in his name,” he said.
Shekhawat, who has been actively involved in the Rajasthan poll campaign, also exuded confidence about the BJP winning the elections. “Rajasthan’s public is running these elections more than the BJP,” he told ThePrint.
Also Read: ‘Gehlot se bair nahin, MLAs ki khair nahin’— why Congress’s bet on incumbents could backfire
Congress govt ‘failing on all fronts’
In his interaction with ThePrint, Shekhawat said people had made up their minds about uprooting the Congress government.
The BJP leader hit out at the Gehlot government for “crossing all levels of appeasement” in the state and alleged that the Congress had denied the existence of the Hindu deity Ram just to keep its vote bank intact and to maintain its appeasement agenda.
“When we talk about Ram, who is the centre of our [Hindus’] faith and existence, we are called communal but when they openly do such things [appeasement], why are they not termed communal?” Shekhawat asked.
Countering the opposition’s view that the BJP was trying to make the Ram Mandir’s construction in Ayodhya a poll issue in Rajasthan, the Union minister claimed that Ram had never been a part of elections for the BJP.
“Ram is a question of identity for the majority population of India. It is a question of faith and belief. We have been considering him as our centre of reverence, which is why we not only fought for the construction of the Ram temple in Ram Janmabhoomi but the party has been moving forward for this with full strength,” Shekhawat said.
But for the opposition parties, he added, it was more important to not upset their vote-bank and hence “they committed the sin of rejecting a matter of faith for India”.
“Just to keep its vote bank intact and maintain its appeasement agenda, the Congress has denied the existence of Ram by signing an affidavit from the start which stated that Ram was imaginary,” the BJP leader alleged.
Slamming the Gehlot government further, Shekhawat said: “Prohibition was imposed on [the day of] Hindu festivals and on processions, while processions by terrorist outfits like the PFI (Popular Front of India) were held under the state government’s protection.”
On Tuesday, addressing a rally in Kota, PM Modi too accused the Gehlot government of playing “appeasement politics”, saying that while Hanuman Jayanti and Ram Navami processions were stopped in Rajasthan, the PFI, a banned outfit, was allowed to hold a march in Kota last year.
Ever since its inception, the PFI has been accused of being an offshoot of the banned terrorist outfit Students’ Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) as several PFI co-founders were SIMI leaders, including PFI vice-chairman E.M. Abdul Rahiman who was a SIMI general secretary between 1982 and 1993.
The BJP’s election narrative in Rajasthan has been polarising, with Modi repeatedly speaking about the murder of Udaipur tailor Kanhaiyalal Sahu, allegedly hacked to death by two Muslim men, last year.
Shekhawat also came down heavily on the schemes announced by the Gehlot government in the run-up to the Rajasthan elections.
“The welfare schemes that are being talked about were announced six months ago, just before the elections. Right from Mehngai Rahat camps, free electricity, to cylinders for Rs 500… have you ever thought why the government felt the need to make such announcements six months before the elections,” he asked.
“When a government fails to deliver for four-and-a-half years and loses the trust and confidence of people, then it announces such sops to save itself,” he said.
Shekhawat added that after “failing on all fronts”, the Congress government had come up with a new set of guarantees “but the people have realised their intent”.
Justifying the poll sops that the BJP has promised in its manifesto, the Union minister said “our schemes are meant to uplift the poor sections of society and are not for votes”.
“Announcing a slew of measures just before elections, without taking into account where the money will come from, is called revdi (freebies),” he added, attacking the Gehlot government.
Shekhawat further cited law and order, women’s safety and unemployment as key issues that his party has been raising in these elections.
“They [the Gehlot government] have committed the crime of turning Rajasthan into a rape capital,” Shekhawat told ThePrint.
On CM prospects & rebellion in BJP
On his own prospects in Rajasthan, Shekhawat, who represents the Jodhpur Lok Sabha constituency, said: “I have never thought about being the CM, nor have I ever made efforts in that direction.”
“I live in the present and my present responsibility is to ensure we emerge victorious. PM Modi has entrusted me with the job of ensuring that, in the future, when India becomes (more) developed, water availability is never a challenge. And I’m working in that direction,” said Shekhawat, who holds charge of the Jal Shakti ministry.
Playing down the rebellion that the party faced during ticket distribution, the minister asserted that “it had become clear six months ago itself that the BJP will come to power” in Rajasthan.
“It’s a normal electioneering principle that when a party is all set to come to power, those with an ambition to be part of the government or to be an MLA, in the hopes of getting a ticket, end up working against the party. Most people (rebels) have come back,” he explained.
“Basically, there’s a difference between rebellion in the Congress and the BJP. Rebellion in the BJP is based on the expectation that the BJP is going to be in power,” Shekhawat said.
(Edited by Nida Fatima Siddiqui)
Also Read: BJP’s Rajasthan manifesto: Anti-Romeo squads, ‘freebies’ & wheat procurement at ‘bonus’ prices