Amid Infighting Within Rajasthan BJP, Union Leaders To Kick-Start Parivartan Yatras For Assembly Elections

With infighting within the Rajasthan unit of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the party high command has taken the reins for the upcoming assembly elections into its own hands.

Earlier, former Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje, Cabinet Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, former BJP state president Satish Poonia, and current president CP Joshi were supposed to lead the four Parivartan yatras.

However, now the BJP has decided that no single leader will represent any single yatra. Instead, Members of Parliament, legislators, and party officials will be involved in all yatras. The party has now appointed local leaders as coordinators for the yatras.

This has been done so that the elevation of any single leader in the state does not send the message that the party sees them as a CM candidate. Notably, these are the first elections in 20 years when Raje is not the party’s chief ministerial face.

Navbharat Times reported that now these yatras will be kick-started from different places by the BJP national president JP Nadda, Home Minister Amit Shah, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, and Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari by waving the party flag.

The first of these yatras will start on 2 September at the Trinetra Ganesh Temple in Ranthambore. The party wanted to drive home the idea of a collective leadership for the coming elections with the presence of all leaders.

However, Raje, who is currently in Delhi, has not officially confirmed her participation, although a member of her team mentioned that she will be present.

Despite surveys conducted by both the BJP and the Congress projecting a victory for the former, the BJP is concerned about feedback indicating that the Gehlot government is not facing as dire a situation as one would typically expect for an incumbent state government.

In fact, according to a recent survey by C-voter, the Gehlot government's projected vote share is expected to increase from 39.3 per cent to 41 per cent, although its expected seat share would be around 80 out of 200.

However, it is difficult for BJP to hit the majority mark without Raje, as Swarajya had earlier reported. In 2003 and 2013, when the BJP organised Parivartan yatras prior to the assembly elections, it was led by Raje.

“She has been attending all the meetings," highlighted Joshi affirming Raje's involvement. He also said, “Our strength is not from individual faces" suggesting that the party doesn't need a CM face to win elections.

Also read: PM Narendra Modi Will Himself Be Monitoring Rajasthan Election Preparations, Here's The Plan