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Rajasthan elections: Shah, Nadda hold meet to firm up strategy
Union home minister Amit Shah and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president JP Nadda held a series of meetings with Rajasthan unit leaders over two days on Wednesday and Thursday, discussing strategy for the upcoming elections.
Union home minister Amit Shah and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president JP Nadda held a series of meetings with Rajasthan unit leaders over two days on Wednesday and Thursday, discussing strategy for the upcoming elections and asking local leaders to set aside differences, party functionaries said on Thursday.
Elections to the 200-member Rajasthan assembly are scheduled for later this year.
In meetings that lasted till 2am on Wednesday and finally ended on Thursday noon, Shah and Nadda discussed the party’s poll campaign and ticket distribution, and sought feedback from state leaders, including former chief minister Vasundhara Raje. Talks focussed on the strategy to win 95 assembly seats where the party is seen as relatively weak and the possibility of fielding 33% women candidates in the upcoming polls, party functionaries said.
Union minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat said wide-ranging issues were discussed in the meeting. “The discussions were comprehensive and ranged from the situation in the state to the challenges, strategy, caste and political equations and what the campaign will focus on in the coming days,” he added.
Both Shah and Nadda emphasised on organisational unity, asking state unit leaders to put the party before self and work together to ensure victory in the elections, a senior party functionary who attended the meetings said. “The central leaders flagged issues of concern such as reports of thin crowds at some places during the [recently concluded] Parivartan yatra,” the senior leader said, requesting anonymity.
A second functionary said the central leadership is keen to send the message of political empowerment of women and discussed the possibility of “giving 33% tickets to women”. “On C and D category seats which the party has marked as weak seats, women candidates could be brought in,” a third functionary said, also declining to be named. In D category, the party has identified 19 seats that it has not won in the last three assembly polls while the C category includes 76 seats that it has won only once in the last three elections. A and B categories feature those seats where the BJP is strong.
BJP general secretary BL Santhosh was also part of the meetings held at a hotel near the Jaipur airport soon after Shah and Nadda arrived on Wednesday evening. The meetings went on till around 2 am on Thursday, before resuming in the morning, and ending on Thursday noon.
“An aggressive campaign to counter the Congress government’s populist schemes, list of star campaigners, possibility of fielding some MPs [members of Parliament] in the assembly polls, denial of party tickets to some sitting MLAs, and strengthening the organisation were also discussed in the meetings,” the second functionary cited above said.
Shah and Nadda also discussed Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s proposed visits to Rajasthan in the first week of October. “Public meetings are being planned in Chittorgarh on October 2 and in Jodhpur on October 5,” the second leader said, adding another meeting could be held in Bikaner.
The PM last visited Jaipur on September 25, when he addressed a public meeting to mark the culmination of the BJP’s four Parivartan Sankalp yatras across the state. The functionaries said the BJP central election committee is expected to meet in Delhi later this week to finalise the candidates’ list for the upcoming elections. The meeting is likely to take place on September 30.
Shah and Nadda first held a meeting with Raje for around 15 minutes on Wednesday. It was followed by a core committee meeting that started around 8pm and lasted for nearly three hours.
Union minister and the party’s election in-charge for Rajasthan Pralhad Joshi, co-in-charge Nitin Patel, BJP’s in-charge for state Arun Singh, state unit president CP Joshi, Union ministers Shekhawat, Arjun Ram Meghwal, Kailash Chaudhary, leader of Opposition in assembly Rajendra Rathore, deputy leader of Opposition Satish Poonia, Lok Sabha MP Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore and other leaders were present at the meeting, said a BJP leader.
On Thursday morning, Nadda and Shah held meetings with Shekhawat and Joshi.
Joshi said the party’s election campaign, including proposed programmes of PM Modi and other central leaders, in the state was discussed in the meeting.
When asked whether MPs will also be fielded in the assembly polls, Joshi said, “This is for the central election committed to decide.” He also brushed aside speculation of some senior leaders being unhappy at being sidelined. “No one is being sidelined. All leaders are moving forward together,” the state party chief added.
