New Delhi: The BJP is busy dousing fires in its faction-ridden Rajasthan unit, which erupted in protests in the wake of the party’s first list of 41 candidates released last Monday for the poll-bound state.
Though the party fielded seven MPs on seats considered “weak”, prominent names missing from the list were of former chief minister Vasundhara Raje; Narpat Singh Rajvi, son-in-law of former CM Bhairon Singh Shekhawat, and Rajpal Singh Shekhawat, a Raje loyalist.
Over the past week, fights have broken out over at least a dozen seats, especially those on which MPs have been fielded, including Vidyadhar Nagar, Jhotwara, Kishangarh, Nagar, Tonk, Sanchore, and Kotputli.
BJP sources told ThePrint that disgruntled ticket aspirants and their supporters are not following state leaders’ command to make peace and work together for the official candidate.
Since the announcement of the second candidate list is due, BJP national president J.P. Nadda has himself stepped in to contain the resentment. He met Rajasthan unit leaders in Udaipur and Jodhpur Monday and asked them to set the house in order and contain rebellion as early as possible, sources said.
Narayan Singh Panchariya, head of BJP’s election management committee, told ThePrint: “The party has deputed several leaders in different regions to mollify those who are angry and we are hopeful they will listen to the senior leaders in order to defeat the Congress (currently in power in the state).”
However, a former Rajasthan BJP president did not share the same optimism.
“The reason behind such rebellion is the shrinking stature of BJP’s state leaders and their (little) say in decision-making,” he said. “Why will local leaders listen to state leaders when the (central) high command is taking decisions on tickets?”
“State leaders can no longer convince central leaders and there’s a vacuum in terms of mass leaders, which is fuelling such rebellion in several states. Vasundhara Raje is not an ultimate stop now for tickets, so it has become a free-for-all to express anger,” he added.
The many protests
A key seat facing rebellion is Deoli Uniara, where Vijay Bainsla, son of Gujjar leader Kirori Singh Bainsla, has been fielded. Here, supporters of Rajendra Gujjar, the BJP candidate in 2018, protested by setting a tyre on fire before Rajendra Rathore, state leader of Opposition, who had visited the constituency this weekend to calm tempers.
The rebellion is said to be the worst in Sanchore, where the BJP has fielded MP Devji Patel.
Two bitter opponents and ticket contenders, Danaram Choudhary and Jivaram Choudhary, have joined hands to oppose Patel’s candidature and threatened to fight the elections independently. Supporters of both held big rallies in the constituency in protest.
BJP sources told ThePrint that most members of the Sanchore district unit had resigned in protest a month before elections are due, and as many as 18 general secretaries of the district had quit in support of Danaram.
Patel and his brother met Jivaram’s supporters but they said bluntly that “now members of the constituency will decide the candidate,” said the sources.
Seats where the party has fielded MPs are also seeing fighting.
In Tijara, MP Balaknath has been fielded. He faced a dismal reception when he reached the constituency after the first list was released. A monk, Balaknath has deep roots in the RSS and BJP and is known as Rajasthan’s Yogi.
Former MLA Maman Yadav has declared that he will fight against Balaknath and is said to be getting support from the people of the constituency.
Similarly, supporters of Rajpal Shekhawat showed black flags in Jhotwara to former Union minister Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore, who is contesting from the seat. Rajpal had contested unsuccessfully from the seat in 2018.
Rathore’s effort to appease the protesters by offering sweets did not work and Rajpal’s supporters are holding meetings and candlelight marches every day. Senior leader C.P. Joshi’s attempt to soothe tempers did not get the desired result either, according to party sources.
From Kishangarh, the party has given the ticket to MP Bhagirath Choudhary, drawing protest from Vikas Choudhary who unsuccessfully contested from the seat in 2018.
Addressing his supporters last week, Vikas broke down and said: “I have worked in the field in the last five years, but Bhagirath Choudhary has killed my career… he never supported me.”
“In 2018, I was fielded at the last moment. Though it was difficult to win, I still contested. This time, the strategy is to finish me politically,” he is heard saying in a video.
The BJP had sent former state president Satish Poonia to Sri Ganganagar from where Jaideep Bihani is standing. Supporters of ticket contenders Prithvi Pal Sandhu and Surendra Pal fought in front of Poonia. Similarly, Union minister Gajendra Shekhawat faced protests in Ajmer constituency.
A committee formed by the BJP last Tuesday under Barmer MP and Union minister Kailash Choudhary to mollify disgruntled leaders and dissuade them from contesting against party candidates is also facing protests and sloganeering from the supporters of rebel leaders.
Talking about the protests, C.R. Choudhary, BJP vice-president in the state, told ThePrint that “such protests are unprecedented”.
“Such culture is common in the Congress but now the BJP is facing similar protests and rebellion. The party has been pressing its senior leaders to manage the rebellion,” he said.
‘Proximity to Raje behind ticket loss’
Some disgruntled leaders are blaming “proximity to Raje” as the reason behind loss of candidature.
Rajpal, who was a minister in the Raje government, earlier told ThePrint that “he failed to understand why the party has dropped me”.
“I have been a legislator multiple times since 1990. Rathore is a junior. According to a recent survey by a newspaper, 62 per cent of the people in my constituency wanted my candidature… I don’t know which survey the BJP has used,” he said.
In Nagar, where the party has fielded Jawahar Singh Bedam, Anita Singh Gurjar also blamed her affinity to Raje for the loss of opportunity.
Anita has already announced her intention to fight the election independently.
She told ThePrint that some leaders had called her, asking her not to take such a decision, “but I refused to not fight when the party has not listened to my voice and my struggle”.
Taking to Facebook last week, she had posted: “Many people are calling me to enquire about my candidature. The BJP has not given me a ticket due to my proximity to Vasundharaji. Instead, they gave the ticket to someone who lost in another constituency by 50,000 votes. Here, he will forfeit his deposit as well.”
According to another BJP vice-president, the “real test will be when party announces tickets for seats which have its own sitting MLAs”.
“In the absence of strong leaders and mechanisms, the real test will be to minimise split of anti-incumbency vote which can favour (CM and Congress leader) Ashok Gehlot,” he said, adding that the party had failed to take candidates into confidence and such regular contact mechanisms had been diluted in the recent past.
(Edited by Nida Fatima Siddiqui)
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