Vasundhara Raje may be BJP’s next Rajasthan unit chief

As the Supreme Court tried to bring a semblance of order to the impasse created by the Karnataka Governor by inviting BJP’s BS Yeddyurappa to prove his majority in the Karnataka Assembly, there has been no movement on the leadership of BJP in Rajsathan following the resignation of its state unit president Ashok Parnami in April this year. The party, which is leaderless at the organisational level, in all likelihood would go to the Assembly election with Chief minister Vasundhara Raje also doubling up as the state unit president.

The party’s central leadership in Delhi had chosen Union Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat to succeed Parnami following the loss of two Lok Sabha and one Vidhan Sabha bypolls. But in a dramatic turn of events, Vasundhara Raje had her say and was able to stall the nomination of Shekhawat. She was successful in convincing both Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP President Amit Shah that Shekhawat, who is a Rajput, would not be an ideal choice if one went by the caste dynamics which rule the state’s electoral politics. The central leadership had, on its own, nominated Shekhawat without consulting Vasundhara Raje, but his nomination was opposed by all sections, thus creating a crisis in the state unit.

Vasundhara was successful in convincing the party that Shekhawat, a first-time Lok Sabha member and a comparative greenhorn in politics but with strong RSS connections, would not be able to provide leadership at a juncture when the party was facing massive anti-incumbency in Rajasthan. Vasundhara emerged triumphant in convincing the party’s leadership at a time when her own existence was threatened after the bypoll losses where the annoyance of the electorate with the state government came out in the open. The party deferred the decision to find a new BJP president till the election in Karnataka was over.

But now it seems that the party is keen to give Vasundhara the dual responsibility of serving as the Chief Minister and also as the party president. This means she will have the final say in disbursing election tickets. The party won 163 seats in Assembly election in 2013 and the main opposition Congress was reduced to 21 seats in a house of 200. The Congress was drubbed again in the Lok Sabha elections in 2014 when the BJP won all the 25 seats.

The state in-charge of the BJP and national vice-president Avinash Rai Khanna, who came to Jaipur to gauge the mood of party workers, found that majority of the sitting MLAs and MPs were in favour of Vasundhara being given the respoinsibility to lead the party. Khanna announced that Vasundhara would continue as the next Chief Minister if the party came to power. He, however, did not say that she would also be the organisational chief. But senior leadership of the state and central BJP are almost unanimous that she should lead the party.

This is a calculated risk that the party has taken as the popularity of the Vasundhara Raje government is at an all-time low and there is considerable negativity against the government.

“It’s a myth that the Vasundhara Raje government is facing an anti-incumbency factor. Karnataka has proven that people have faith in the leadership of Narendra Modi. Party workers who were a little demoralised following the bypoll losses are now hopeful of better performance,” said former Rajasthan unit BJP president Parnami.

Parnami, the former Jaipur Mayor, was a confidante of Vasundhara Raje and was rewarded with state unit presidency. He was known to have followed the Chief Minister’s instructions. When he was asked to resign, there was speculation that Vasundhara Raje would be called at the Centre and that the Dalit Union Minister, Arjun Ram Meghwal, would replace her. Meghwal’s name also did the rounds about the party’s state presidency as well.

The BJP is in poor organisational shape in the state and the Congress is upbeat with the electoral victories in the bypolls. Vasundhara Raje will have to build a formidable team when the Congress is building a very strong network spanning the entire state.