New Delhi: In the run up to the Lok Sabha elections, infighting in the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) Rajasthan unit has come to the fore, with Shergarh MLA Babu Singh Rathore openly criticising Union Jal Shakti Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat Monday. Rathore has accused him of neglecting developmental projects in Shergarh, which fall under Jodhpur, Shekhawat’s Lok Sabha constituency.
Shekhawat had Monday visited Shergarh to participate in a programme, alongside Rathore. Following Shekhawat’s departure, Rathore criticised the Union minister, alleging that his efforts in Shergarh lacked tangible developmental impact and were merely lip service.
“I requested the Union minister that an ECHS hospital be opened in my constituency. He said that he had called (Finance Minister) Nirmla Sitaraman and that it had been sanctioned, but no letter has come. He had also promised that a sainik school would be opened here, but nothing came of it. After becoming MLA, I met Defence Minister Rajnath Singh to request a sainik school in Shergarh. He asked his PS (private secretary), and on the second day I received a sanction letter. I don’t know why Shekhawat misguides people.”
“We know that Shekhawat is a resident of Sikar, and that is why he has promised to open a sainik school there, but he should not forget that he is an MP from Jodhpur,” Rathore added.
Following his criticism, Shekhawat took to social media Tuesday to post a list of projects and works done in Shergarh. The image posted claims Rs 318.01 lakh has been spent so far for development work in the constituency.
विकास, विश्वास और प्रयास!
पंचायत समिति शेरगढ़ में विकास कार्यों का ब्योरा: pic.twitter.com/PtAuS8SDyl
— Gajendra Singh Shekhawat (@gssjodhpur) February 27, 2024
However, the MLA demanded physical proof of the work actually done on the ground “since this was not reflecting on the ground”. “I have spent Rs 25 crore on development work during my last tenure, while Shekhawat let Rs 11 crore go to waste due to non-disbursement,” Rathore said to ThePrint. “The people in my constituency have questions about developmental work. I have a responsibility towards them, that is why I am raising these issues.”
During his speech Monday, Rathore also brought up the 2022 Bhungra gas tragedy and asked why the promised assistance of Rs 50 lakh and job opportunities for those affected had not been fulfilled. “Shekhawatji promised a central school in my constituency. Around 56 central schools have been opened in Rajasthan, but none in Shergarh. Now he is saying we should send a proposal through the state government. What about the system of double engine government? He owes my constituents an answer,” Rathore said.
On Wednesday, Rajasthan’s State Minister for Water Resources, Kanhaiya Lal Choudhary, had also convened a meeting in Jodhpur. Several BJP workers expressed their concerns to the minister, noting that despite Gajendra Singh Shekhawat serving as the Union Jal Shakti Minister and hailing from Jodhpur, there remained a shortage of water supply in the region.
They pointed out that even with the BJP government in the state, villages were receiving only half an hour of water supply. While the minister attempted to reassure them, many began chanting the slogan, “Modi tujhse bair nahi, Shekhawat teri khair nahi (Modi, we have no enmity with you, but Shekhawat, we won’t spare you)”.
Speaking to ThePrint, Devendra Salecha, BJP district president of Jodhpur north, said, “Gajendraji has done much developmental work in the area, not only through his ministry but personally too by helping people resolve their issues. Any grievance (of an MLA) can be resolved, but not like this, on a public platform.”
ThePrint reached Shekhawat’s office via calls. This report will be updated if and when a response is received.
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Rathore vs Shekhawat
The Jodhpur Lok Sabha constituency has eight assembly segments — Phalodi, Lohawat, Shergarh, Sardarpura, Jodhpur, Sursagar, Luni and Pokhran.
Rathore, who began his political journey as student politician in Jai Narain Vyas University in Jodhpur, was elected as the president of the students’ union in 1995. He later entered the district council and secured consecutive wins from Shergarh in the assembly elections of 2003, 2008, and 2013, but faced defeat in the 2018 polls. However, he regained his position as MLA in the 2023 assembly elections.
BJP leaders in the district recall that in the first two years after Gajendra Shekhawat became Jodhpur MP in 2014, he and Rathore seemed to have friendly relations, but differences emerged soon enough. They added that some local leaders within the BJP were resentful of Shekhawat’s rise and his position as Union minister, fearing that their own political careers might be limited to the district or assembly level if he continues in his ministerial role.
“Babu Rathore belongs to Vasundhara (Raje) camp and that is why he got a ticket. He is taking potshots at Shekhawat, who is considered Raje’s rival. But the minister knows that too much noise in the run up to Lok Sabha elections will be counter-productive, and thus he has taken a more pragmatic approach despite Rathore’s provocations.”
(Edited by Zinnia Ray Chaudhuri)
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