New Delhi: Rajasthan’s newly appointed BJP president Madan Rathore has started his innings on a wrong footing with his statement that the state government intends to scrap six-seven districts purportedly drawn out for “appeasement” by the previous Congress dispensation.
Rathore has drawn flak not only from the Congress party but also from the BJP high command for his comment, which was made at a time when Chief Minister Bhajan Lal Sharma is travelling abroad to attract foreign investors for the ‘Rising Rajasthan’ Global Investment Summit 2024 in December.
The Rajasthan government remains tight-lipped about the matter regarding the future of these newly carved out districts, as seen in the ministers avoiding all questions in the assembly’s Budget session. This, according to the BJP insiders, is to avoid any negative development such as protests or lockdowns.
On his part, Rathore has retracted his statement after seemingly being pulled up by the party brass for the statement made during the visit to Bhilwara on 8 September.
“The Congress government created many districts only for appeasement of its MLAs. Even the single assembly segments like Dudu, Kekri, Sanchore were designated as districts. Neither the areas were considered nor the population was estimated while forming them. Many such districts have been created…,” Rathore had told the media Sunday in Bhilwara.
“Why were districts created where they are not needed? Districts were created just to please the public representatives and get political benefits. There are 6-7 districts which we will scrap.”
Ahead of the state polls in August last year, the Ashok Gehlot-led Congress government had approved the proposal of a high-level committee and formed 17 districts. Later in June, the Bhajan Lal Sharma-led BJP government formed a cabinet sub-committee headed by Deputy Chief Minister Prem Chand Bairwa to review the formation of these districts.
Leader of the Opposition Tika Ram Jully lashed out at Rathore, contending what was the BJP state chief’s locus standi on making such announcement.
“In what capacity the BJP state president is declaring scrapping of six-seven districts. Is he leaking government decisions? The announcement should be made by a responsible government official, minister or chief minister,” Jully had said.
The matter did not end there as, BJP insiders told ThePrint, that party national general secretary organisation B.L. Santosh called Rathore to Delhi this week and advised him to avoid making such statements about government decisions.
Meanwhile, a committee headed by retired civil servant Lalit K. Panwar has already submitted its report to the government in August regarding the newly formed 17 districts and 3 divisions of Rajasthan.
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Lack of synergy within govt & organisation?
This is not the first time that CM Bhajan Lal Sharma is facing a challenge from either within the organisation or from his own ministers in the past three months. BJP leader Kirodi Lal Meena has refused to rejoin the state cabinet and all posts even now after he resigned in July.
Meena has been demanding action by the government against one department after another, like the cancellation of the 2021 ASI police recruitment of 2021 and an inquiry into the Rajasthan Administrative Service 2018-2021 recruitments. The veteran leader was absent from the recent Assembly session.
Another case of a lack of synergy within the Rajasthan cabinet came into the public domain when the CM did not include industry minister Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore in his delegation for the ongoing business trip to South Korea and Japan.
“There are political heavyweights like Kirodi Lal Meena and more experienced ministers like Rajyavardhan Rathore, who have more exposure to governance while working in the Union cabinet,” a BJP Rajasthan general secretary told ThePrint.
“The CM worked within the organisation and he is learning about governance. Sometimes, competing aspirations become challenging for a new person. This reflects in the lack of synergy. But since the party high command has selected him as the chief minister, it’s everyone’s duty to cooperate while keeping aside personal ambitions.”
A former BJP minister in the erstwhile Vasundhara Raje cabinet took potshots at the CM, saying that “respect has to be earned”.
“The new incharge of Rajasthan affairs Radha Mohan Das Agrawal made headlines by asking Rajendra Rathore’s presence in a meeting like a school teacher… The post can give you power but not respect. Respect has to be earned while working, delivering results. Without results, no one will respect you. That is the main problem in the party,” the ex-minister told ThePrint.
(Edited by Tony Rai)