New Delhi: “Ambition is natural in a party but only one person will get ticket in a constituency.” This is the message BJP president J.P. Nadda delivered to the party’s Rajasthan unit in a bid to quell the resentment triggered by the first list of candidates for the upcoming assembly elections.
Nadda was in Rajasthan this week, and held back-to-back meetings with zonal BJP leaders to mollify party members amid worries that the discontent may deepen with the second list.
The BJP president told party leaders that they should not get disheartened if left out of the candidate lists. Opportunities, he promised, would come after the BJP formed the government in the state.
He also offered party leaders a prescription for greater engagement with BJP cadres and voters to build momentum against the Ashok Gehlot-led Congress government in the state.
Nadda, who is the BJP in charge for Rajasthan, addressed six meetings of party workers and office-bearers over three days — first in Udaipur and Jodhpur, then in Kota, Bundi and Jhalawar-Baran areas, as well as in Ajmer.
He primarily asked leaders to forget their differences for the next 30 days to ensure the BJP’s victory, and ensure lead at every booth.
To this end, he said party leaders should visit community bastis or villages in small groups, and not as part of convoys or a massive entourage.
The leaders’ behaviour should be like that of a friend “who has come to meet you”, BJP leaders privy to the meetings said.
The focus should be on hearing people’s concerns, not on making a speech, as “it will help in creating a lasting bond with voters”, he is learnt to have said.
“The party president’s message was to win the booth as that is key to winning the elections,” said BJP Kota district president Krishna Kumar Soni.
“His thrust was on continuously engaging with booth workers and interacting with the community, but not like leader — like a friend — to make a more lasting impact among people,” he added. “He has made several suggestions to get more support during the election.”
The state goes to the polls on 25 November.
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‘Visit gym, football field, and Dalit mandir’
While speaking in Jhalawar-Baran, Nadda asked party leaders to focus on SC/STs.
While visiting Dalit bastis, leaders should not have meals in the homes of residents as they may find it hard to arrange food for several people, Nadda reportedly said, adding that they can sip water with them instead.
The leaders should also make it a practice to visit the community’s religious place without too many supporters, he said.
To “sensitise” the youth segment and attract them towards the BJP’s policies, the leaders should attempt connecting with them through sports and other activities, Nadda added.
While campaigning, party leaders should visit football or cricket grounds or gyms for outreach, he said, adding that the leaders should listen to the youths’ problems and find out a way to address them.
Jagdish Meena, the BJP district president for Baran, told ThePrint that the “party president said that to engage youth, we should look at their interest”.
“Engaging with them through sports or gym is actually an organisational meeting to win booth by using a different strategy,” he added.
Another message from Nadda was to not forget key voters, particularly those with large networks, like tailors and hair dressers.
‘Opportunity will come once power comes’
Since the BJP announced its first list of 41 candidates for the Rajasthan elections — the state has 200 assembly seats — there has been discontent in more than a dozen seats.
With the party set to release its second list, Nadda is touring one region after another to take the pulse of cadres and mollify their anger by meeting leaders of different areas.
During the Kota meeting, the BJP chief sought to convince the cadres not to spoil their chances ahead of the assembly election.
“Ambition is natural in a party but only one person will get ticket in a constituency,” he said, adding that “all the others need to work with their full energy to make the party come to power”.
“The MLA election is not the only election. These workers will get other opportunities when the party comes to power,” he is believed to have said. “So, there is a need to focus on the bigger target to get power and serve people. For that, the cadres will have to fight unitedly for the next 30 days.”
Kota is one of the most crucial areas for the BJP in Rajasthan.
It is part of the Hadoti region, which is considered a stronghold of the BJP and has 17 assembly constituencies, of which the party holds 10.
Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla represents Kota, while former CM Vasundhara Raje’s son Dushyant Singh represents Jhalawar-Baran, also part of Hadoti.
The Ashok Gehlot government has three ministers from this region — Shanti Dhariwal from Kota, Pramod Jain from Baran, and Ashok Chandana from Bundi.
Four districts of Kota division are among the 13 covered under the Eastern Rajasthan Canal Project, and the Gehlot government is demanding national status for the project from the Centre.
Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge launched the party’s campaign on this issue from Baran district.
Through this issue, the Congress aims to save its eastern Rajasthan turf and make a dent in the Hadoti region.
(Edited by Sunanda Ranjan)