New Delhi/Jaipur, Jun 10: Clash of egos and infighting seemed to rule the roost in Rajasthan BJP delaying appointment of a regular state unit chief even as to strike 'balance', Amit Shah has mooted the idea of a 'Ministerial level Yatras' and preparing the roadmap to seek votes in the name of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
In clear indications that there are some negative vibes about Vasundhara Raje government, the saffron party may not seek votes in the name of 'performance' of Raje regime.
According to BJP sources, the appointment of new state unit president could have been through by now if the Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje had given her green signal to party chief Amit Shah's choice of Jodhpur MP and Union minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat.
The Chief Minister was not quite pleased the manner Mr Shah had acted 'tough and aggressively' against the former state unit chief Ashok Parnami and relieved him from the responsibility after he was asked to step aside.
"Matters turned worse when Mr Shah wanted to impose his choice.....The Chief Minister sounded her displeasure," a party source told UNI.
Party's organisational Incharge of Rajasthan Avinash Rai Khanna and national joint secretary V Satish now have been asked to pursue party's campaign and other leaders including MPs, presidents of various boards and zilla parishads have been asked to make the the party "battle-ready" for the ensuing Assembly elections due later this year along with Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh.
Sources said Mr Shah has spoken to Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh, who as Mr Shah's predecessor as party president, could handle Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje (for 2014 battle) to try "see reason" so that Mr Gajendra Singh Shekhawat is appointed as regular Rajasthan unit president at the earliest.
"As a compromise formula at the instance of party incharge Khanna and national joint secretary (organisation) V Satish, the party chief Mr Shah has allowed former state president Mr Parnami to take interest in party's poll preparedness and suggest strategies. This seemed to work well as of now," the source said.
But things still need to be resolved as keeping up the pressure, Chief Minister Raje 'skipped' a crucial meeting of party leaders from Rajasthan in Delhi.
The BJP leaders and workers from the Jaipur Rural Lok Sabha constituency met in the national capital on Friday wherein BJP chief Shah focused his speech largely "on the achievements" of the Narendra Modi government and exhorted the party colleagues to ensure that Mr Modi's "Vijay (victory) Rath" do not face any hurdle in Rajasthan.
The avoiding of reference to Raje government in Rajasthan is seen as a deliberate ploy.
The ensuing assembly elections in Rajasthan will be of political significance in more ways than one for BJP as in 2019 parliamentary polls, the BJP would like to repeat the success tale of 2014 general elections.
Five years back, BJP had won all 25 seats in Rajasthan and this had contributed in a big way in giving Mr Modi the landslide and historic victory.
In the by-polls later, however, Congress nominees Raghu Sharma and Karan Singh Yadav has wrested Ajmer and Alwar Lok Sabha seats. The BJP also lost one assembly by-election in the western state.
Chief Minister Raje has been, however, cooperating well with two state incharges Avinash Rai Khanna and Gopal Shetty, and also party's national joint general secretary (organisation) V Satish.
She also attended a meeting of core members which was also attended by her loyalist and party's former Rajasthan unit chief Ashok Parnami. Khanna and Gopal Shetty and also party's national joint general secretary (organisation) V Satish also attended the same.
The fact that under pressure from Ms Raje, her confidant Mr Parnami was given importance is understood quite well as he was allowed to brief the media about the deliberations as well.
“In the meeting, party leaders decided that all should hard to ensure BJP's victory in the ensuing polls. Party leaders also took note of the negative propaganda by the Congress and decided that this should be countered well," he has said later.
Meanwhile, Mr Shah has asked party leaders focus on winnability factors in working out the poll strategies.
At Friday's meeting on Friday, he said: "We must win all the eight Assembly seats in Jaipur Rural. Tell me, will you ensure our victory in all the seats?"
As expected, the overwhelming response was 'yes'.
As the initial ground work, the party chief Mr Shah has given his nod for nine Yatras across the state and these will be undertaken by state ministers "in groups of three" to highlight achievements and welfare programmes of the state and central government.
"The campaign style ought to be different this time as we are in power in both the state as well as centre. Therefore, the chief minister would not be taking out a yatra as of now. But when the yatras reach the division/district headquarters, she will attend the major rallies," a source said.
It has also been decided that due to "anti incumbency" factor, votes will be sought chiefly in the name of Modi Sarkar.
"A party's internal survey team has already alerted the leadership that the voters have issues with the performance of Raje government. We are trying to address some of these issues," the source said.
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