With an eye on the 2023 Assembly election, the Opposition Bharatiya Janata Party in Rajasthan is trying to strengthen itself in the eastern part of the State, bordering Uttar Pradesh, where its organisational structure is weak. The party had won only one seat in the Bharatpur division in the 2018 Assembly polls.
The BJP held a meeting of the joint executive committee of all front organisations in Bharatpur over the weekend with a call to strengthen the party at grassroots level in the region and overthrow the ruling Congress in the next election. Senior party leaders and two Union Ministers were among those who attended the two-day meeting.
The front bodies represented at the meeting included the BJP’s Kisan Morcha, Mahila Morcha, Other Backward Classes Morcha, Scheduled Castes Morcha, Scheduled Tribes Morcha, Youth Morcha and the Minorities Morcha. An exhibition at the venue displayed the achievements and future action plans of the front organisations.
Lauds Jat king
Addressing the participants, BJP State president Satish Poonia praised the 18th Century Jat king of Bharatpur, Maharaja Suraj Mal, who had captured Delhi in 1753, and called upon the party workers to defeat the Congress in the same manner. He said the “anti-people” Congress had failed on every front, while 60 lakh farmers were waiting for loan waiver promised by the ruling party three years ago.
Mr. Poonia said the BJP needed to make its fight against the Congress more assertive by highlighting the poor state of affairs, amid the lack of governance and rising crime graph. “Our leadership is our pride ... All the Morchas of the BJP should convey the message of public welfare schemes of the Narendra Modi government to every household,” he said.
The meeting refrained from projecting a chief ministerial face for the 2023 Assembly election. BJP national general secretary in charge of Rajasthan Arun Singh told reporters that the candidature would be decided by the party’s Parliamentary Board, which would be acceptable to all. “As of now, our chief ministerial face is the lotus,” he quipped.
Political significance
The BJP leaders laid emphasis on political significance of eastern Rajasthan as well as the scope for the party’s expansion in the four districts of the Bharatpur division. Of the 19 Assembly seats in the region, the Congress had won 13 and the Bahujan Samaj Party three in the 2018 election. The only BJP winner was Shobharani Kushwah from Dholpur.
While the rival factions in the Congress appeared to have patched up after the recent Cabinet expansion and reshuffle, the BJP faces an internal strife with the loyalists of senior leader Vasundhara Raje demanding the she be brought to the centre stage and projected as the face for the next elections. Ms. Raje has maintained a low profile since the party’s defeat in the 2018 polls.
Union Jal Shakti Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, Union Minister of State Kailash Chaudhary and Deputy Leader of the Opposition Rajendra Rathore addressed various sessions in the Bharatpur meeting.
Published - January 01, 2022 05:31 am IST
