Rajasthan: Sparks fly in BJP, will it prove costly in polls?

With the Assembly elections nearing, factionalism and mutual differences within the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) have started  coming out in open. During chief minister Vasundhara Raje’s Rajasthan Gaurav Yatra and BJP national president Amit Shah’s rally, the supporters fought in front of the two leaders publicly. Latest in the list of troubles for the BJP is the tweet of a former minister and sitting MLA Pratap Singh Singhvi. 

The BJP is facing factionalism in regions like Kota, Udaipur, Sawai Madhopur, Dausa, Jaipur and Alwar. In the coming days, such factionalism can increase, feel insiders. MLAs and MPs in Kota do not seem to be united and it can be judged from two tweets by MLA Singhvi. The tweets in question were sent from Singhvi’s handle questioning BJP’s national president Amit Shah’s IT volunteer meets. Singhvi later claimed that his account has been hacked. The tweet said, “Saansad ne aapko bhi goli de di adhyaksh ji.” It also mentioned that the students of coaching centres and hostels were brought in for Shah’s IT meet. This tweet created a flutter in the BJP and later Singhvi wrote that his account was hacked. He went on to add that he had long and personal relations with Kota MP Om Birla and that there are no difference between us, he tweeted.

This is not all, as Kota division has many more examples of mutual discord within the BJP. There is already a  dispute going on between BJP MLAs Prahalad Gunjal and Chandrakanta Meghwal. Both have given public statements regarding this in the past. Meghwal has also written a letter to party national president Amit Shah. During CM Raje’s Gaurav Yatra, a meeting was organised in the Assembly area of Gunjal where Kota MP and other MLAs did not turn up. 

Meanwhile, the fifth phase of the Gaurav Yatra ended on Monday and during CM’s visit in Jaipur division too, infighting came to the fore. There was a dispute between former MLA Rohitshav Sharma and UIT chairman Devi Singh over sitting on the dais with the CM. So much was the tussle visible that the chief minister had to intervene and Singh who was pushed down from dais was brought back to be seated alongside Raje. 

The rift was visible even when Amit Shah came to Gangapur city on September 22. In the rally, the supporters of Rajya Sabha MP Kirori Lal Meena and MLA Man Singh Gurjar got into a confrontation much to the discomfort of Shah, who then scolded them and asked them to sit quietly.

In Udaipur division too, factionalism  was witnessed  within the party when Raje went to a programme organised by Independent MLA Randhir Singh Bhinder who had fought the last election as a rebel candidate of BJP.

Meanwhile, state coordinator of Gaurav Yatra and home minister Gulab Chand Kataria and other BJP leaders and MLAs did not attend this meeting. Both Bhinder and Kataria are considered sworn rivals. 

The next leg of CM’s yatra will be in Ajmer division. Here too factionalism within the party is rampant. The dispute between the two ministers of Ajmer division—Vasudev Devnani and Anita Badhel—is well known. In Ajmer Mayor elections, the dispute between these two ministers had become public. 

So, it seems ahead of Assembly polls BJP will have to do a lot of introspection to see where it stands.  

Twitter war

MLAs and MPs in Kota seem not to be united and it can be judged from two tweets of former urban development minister and MLA Pratap Singh Singhvi. The tweets in question were made from the handle of Singhvi questioning BJP’s national president Amit Shah’s IT volunteer meets. The tweets were made from the twitter account of Singhvi which he later claimed to have been hacked.