Rajasthan BJP leader Ashok Choudhary awaiting Amit Shah’s response on change in state leadership

A local Bharatiya Janata Party leader in Rajasthan, who petitioned party President Amit Shah to change the state leadership if the party wanted to retain power in the state, says he is awaiting for a response to his letter.

Ashok Choudhary, head of BJP's Kota district OBC wing, who came under media spotlight last week after his letter to Amit Shah requesting for leadership change in Rajasthan BJP, told IANS that he was eagerly awaiting for a call from BJP's top leadership. "I cannot expect justice from Jaipur team but I have all my hopes stuck to the Delhi BJP team," he said.

"There was a meeting called in the BJP state headquarters recently where this issue of leadership crisis was apparently discussed. I think the team is busy finding out a middle way to ensure we emerge winners in the ensuing elections," claimed Choudhary.

Terming the situation in Rajasthan "grim", Choudhary said that a party worker goes to an MLA with their problems and the MLA goes to an MP, but no one has any solution to the problem. "They (the workers) return empty-handed after listening to the same answer that our hands are tied up and we are unable to take it further," he said.

He reiterated that if elections were contested under Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje and state unit Ashok Parnami, the BJP will lose in the 2018 Assembly elections as well as in the 2019 general elections.

Choudhary also attributed the BJP's defeat in the recent bypolls to party infighting. "The workers were demotivated; they didn't work, they didn't go to appeal to voters. Cross voting was too much... All this has led to a debacle for the party.

"Workers are not slaves, they are hardworking hands who have elevated party to such height. Hence it comes as a myth when someone says that this worker is of a lower rank or XYZ is a worker of a high cadre. This ranking hardly makes a difference in politics. We still have time to learn from our mistakes from this election, there is a time to end the culture of slavery and bossism from state politics," he added.

Parnami could not be contacted for his comments to Choudhary's allegations.

The BJP lost two Lok Sabha seats Alwar and Ajmer and the Mandalgarh assembly seat in the recent bypolls in Rajasthan, the results of which were declared on February 1.

Choudhary wrote to Shah the next day, saying: "The people of the state are not happy with Chief Minister Vasundhra Raje's style of functioning. The party workers are losing confidence due to her working style."

Also read: Sachin Pilot interview with National Herald: “Countdown for downfall of ‘maharani’ Raje has begun, people angry with BJP misrule”

Also read: Editor-in-chief of Qaumi Awaz Zafar Agha: “Rajasthan and Bengal bypolls result in a lame duck government”