Of the five state going to polls, BJP most confident about Raj

SANTOSH KUMAR PATHAK

New Delhi, June 4 (IANS) Be it at the state level or at the party's organisational level, BJP is in full swing to defeat the incumbent Ashok Gehlot-led Congress government in poll-bound Rajasthan.

However, both the pan-India parties have to resolve the factionalism existing within their parties.

The Congress high command may have projected that 'all is well' between Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot and Deputy Chief Minister Sachin Pilot by conducting a meeting separately in Delhi with both the Rajasthan bigwigs posing together for photos.

The grand old party has sent across the message to its political opponent that it will fight the upcoming state Assembly election unitedly with both Gehlot and Pilot standing united to take on the BJP. However, the meeting came close on the heels of Pilot's "ultimatum" that he would launch a state-wide agitation if his three demands from the Rajasthan government were not met by the end of this month.

At the same time, BJP is also facing factionalism issues within its own party ranks.

On one hand there is former Chief Minister and BJP senior leader Vasundhara Raje Scindia, who is still not ready to give up her claim to the CM's post, while on the other hand, the names of Union Ministers Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, Arjun Ram Meghwal, former state BJP President Satish Poonia and Opposition Leader Rajendra Rathore, including many other BJP leaders, are also continuously doing rounds projecting their claims to the CM candidate in Rajasthan.

Out of the five states where Assembly elections are scheduled to be held this year (Mizoram, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh and Telangana), the saffron party has high expectations from the Assembly elections in Rajasthan. According to sources, the BJP High Command feels that if all the party unit leaders fight the upcoming state Assembly election unitedly, then it is certain that the party will form government in Rajasthan.

This is the reason BJP National President J.P. Nadda held several meetings in Delhi to end the ongoing factionalism in the party unit in Rajasthan, and has advised all the leaders from the state to fight the upcoming elections together.

In Prime Minister Narendra Modi's recently held rally in Ajmer, the saffron party also sent across a political message by inviting all bigwig state party leaders to be present on the same stage to show that the party is ready to fight elections unitedly, rubbishing all claims of factionalism.

Commenting on the political situation in Rajasthan and the strategy devised by the party, a veteran national BJP leader told IANS that in view of the political situation in Rajasthan, the party is planning to contest the elections in the state under a collective leadership, that is, the saffron party will not declare any state party leader as the chief ministerial candidate and it will be decided only after the election results are announced.

During the election campaign, the saffron party will highlight the shortcomings of the Ashok Gehlot government and project the achievements of its most popular leader, Narendra Modi, and urge the people of the state to vote for the double-engine BJP government in the state and at the Centre.

In order to end the factionalism within the state BJP unit, in March this year, the BJP High Command removed the then state party President Satish Poonia and appointed Lok Sabha MP from Chittorgarh, C.P. Joshi.

The BJP High Command had sent Joshi to Jaipur with clear instructions to put an end to factionalism within party ranks in Rajasthan and prepare for the upcoming Assembly elections by taking along all party leaders.

Asked about the factionalism prevailing in the state, the Rajasthan BJP President, told IANS: "No single person works for the party, the whole organisation works together. Our aim is to defeat the Congress government from here, to bring the BJP to power and the people of Rajasthan have also made up their mind to bring BJP government to power in the state for which we all are working unitedly with a single aim."

Asked about the basis of forming BJP government in the state and how the BJP will communicate to the people of Rajasthan, Joshi told IANS that he will seek support from the people of the state regarding the work done by Modi government during the last nine years and highlight the failed poll promises of the Ashok Gehlot government, adding that he has full faith in people of Rajasthan that BJP will form government in the state.

Calling out the Gehlot government for making big false promises, the Rajasthan BJP President said that the people of the state know that all the development works that were being done during the tenure of the previous BJP government have been halted after the Gehlot government came to power.

He added that after coming to power in Rajasthan, Congress had assured that they would waive off the loans of all the farmers but never fulfilled one of their main poll promises.

"The Gehlot government had also promised to give employment allowance to unemployed youth, but on the contrary, it allegedly put the future of lakhs of youth in danger by openly indulging in corruption within the Rajasthan Public Service Commission," the State BJP President said.

The Chief Minister had promised that he will not increase the rates of electricity in Rajasthan but hiked the rates several times in the last five years, Joshi pointed out.

Stating that the people of Rajasthan are suffering from inflation, the top BJP leader said: "Rajasthan has the most expensive petrol, diesel and electricity prices in the country. It tops the list of states with the highest atrocities on women, Dalits and children. In terms of corruption, Rajasthan is ahead of all the other states across the country. On the contrary, BJP acts on all poll promises it announces before the people."

Referring to the achievements of the Modi government at the Centre in the last nine years, the State BJP President said thatthe Modi government has done a lot of development work which the Congress could never complete in last 60 years.

Joshi added that a lot of development has been done in the country, the country's border has been safeguarded, the morale of the Army has increased manifold and India's prestige has glorified in the world and these nine years of governance have been unmatched.

Claiming to form government in the state with a huge majority, the state BJP President said that the people of the state want that if there is Modi government at the Centre, then a BJP government should also be formed in Rajasthan so that the state can develop fast with help of the double-engine government.