Vasundhara Raje, Loyalists Feature In BJP’s Second Rajasthan Candidates’ List
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has announced its second list of candidates for the upcoming Rajasthan Assembly elections, scheduled to be held next month. The second list includes prominent figures such as former Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje; senior leader and son of former Vice President Bhairon Singh Shekhawat, Narpat Singh Rajvi; the Leader of the Opposition in the state assembly, Rajendra Rathore; the Deputy Leader of the Opposition and former state president, Satish Poonia; former Education Minister with a strong RSS background, Vasudev Devnani; former Congress Jat leader Jyothi Mirdha, and Mewar royal family scion Vishvaraj Singh Mewar. Mr. Mewar joined the BJP last week.
Raje, who had been sidelined in the party after Union Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat was appointed as the state BJP leader, has been nominated from Jhalarapatan. She has won the Jhalarapatan constituency, which is also her son Dushyant Singh”s parliamentary constituency (Jhalawar-Baran), four times in a row.
Reports suggest that Raje had opposed the appointment of the union minister as the state BJP chief in 2018, arguing that it would alienate the Jat community in the state.
The agricultural community of Jats in Rajasthan, with a 11 percent of the electorate, is likely to play a significant role in the upcoming assembly polls.
The tech-savvy farmer Shekhawat comes from Jodhpur, which is also the home district of former Rajasthan chief minister Ashok Gehlot, and is a prominent member of the Rajput community. Rajputs constitute 6-9% of the state’s population.
Many of Raje”s loyalists have been included in the second list, such as Pratap Singh Singhvi (Chhabra), Kalicharan Saraf (Malviya Nagar), Shrichand Kripalani (Nimbaheda), and Anita Bhadel (Ajmer South). However, another Raje loyalist, Ashok Lahoti, who is an MLA from Sanganer, has been excluded.
Earlier, state Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot had criticized the BJP for not including Raje in its first list of candidates, released on October 9. He attributed her absence to her stance against the state and central party leadership when they attempted to topple his government. Gehlot stated, “But I would like to emphasize that she should not be penalized because of me. That would be unjust to her.”
Narpat Singh Rajvi, who was previously denied a ticket from Vidhyanagar, has now been nominated to run in Chittorgarh. The party faced protests when the first list was released, as erstwhile Jaipur princess Diya Kumari was named as the candidate from Vidhyanagar.
The voting for the Rajasthan Assembly elections will be held on November 25 and the counting of votes will take place on December 3.
