Archana Sharma
Jaipur, Oct 28 (IANS) Even though the BJP has released names of candidates on 124 seats in Rajasthan, it is still trying hard to find eligible and winnable candidates against Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot and former Deputy Chief Minister Sachin Pilot.
While the saffron party is hard put to find a challenger for Ashok Gehlot on his home turf Sardarpura, it is facing the same situation in finding the right candidate to take on Sachin Pilot in his bastion Tonk.
As per BJP sources, “Ashok Gehlot comes as one of the biggest challenges for the BJP. The saffron party wants to adopt a special strategy to take on the Chief Minister in this decades-old seat dominated by the wily politician. They would need to field such a strong face that the candidate would not only challenge Gehlot but would change the political equation there as well. The simple objective is that if challenged, Gehlot will focus more on his seat and less on the election campaign across the state. This strategy will keep him glued to his seat.”
According to sources, the BJP high command is in touch with the erstwhile royal family of Jodhpur. When Prime Minister Narendra Modi went on a Jodhpur tour recently, a member of the former royal family, Gaj Singh, had also received him at the airport.
According to sources, Modi and Gaj Singh had a one-on-one meeting for 15-20 minutes. It is believed that there were talks of supporting the BJP in Marwar in this Assembly election.
The BJP high command wants a member of the erstwhile royal family to become active in politics in this election itself. However, the former royal family has not yet issued any statement in this regard.
Sources said that in the past, the BJP had held discussions with Union Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, about contesting elections from the Sardarpura seat, but things did not work out and the party is continuing its search for a powerful leader to take on Gehlot.
Apart from this, the BJP is currently unable to find any strong local leader in Tonk, which is considered the stronghold of the Congress because of Sachin Pilot.
The BJP had also tried to rope in Lok Sabha MP Sukhbir Singh Jaunapuria from the area to contest the elections against Pilot, but yet again things did not work out.
Now, the name of South Delhi MP and Gurjar leader Ramesh Bidhuri is doing the rounds for the Tonk seat. However, it’s not yet clear if he will contest from Rajasthan as of now, even though he is frequently seen campaigning in East Rajasthan for the party.
The name of former MLA Ajit Mehta is being bandied about too. Last time, former Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje’s ticket was given to his close aide Yunus Khan at the last moment. Significantly, Khan was the only Muslim to be given a ticket by the party, however he lost the election. This time, the party has not given a ticket to any Muslim candidate, the reason being that the party’s core agenda is Hindutva, said sources. Meanwhile Mehta, who is close to the RSS, is a man-in-waiting.
Who will contest from Tonk and Sardarpura is a billion dollar question for the BJP as of now.
