BJP launches campaign in poll-bound Rajasthan

With a series of rallies by senior leaders, the BJP has started its campaign in Rajasthan. While Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh addressed a rally at Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot’s bastion at Jodhpur on Wednesday, party president J P Nadda is set to hold a slew of functions in Bharatpur on Thursday. Home Minister Amit Shah will be in Udaipur on Friday.

Although all the meetings are part of the outreach programmes for nine years of the Modi government, they have set the stage for the BJP’s campaign in the state where they are keen to wrestle power from Gehlot. On Wednesday, Rajnath Singh held a rally at Balesar and held district-level meetings with party workers.

At Bharatpur, Nadda will hold a meeting of the local office-bearers and attend the inauguration ceremony of a new party building. He will also hold a public address there. In the last assembly elections, the BJP was unsuccessful in winning any seat in the region, which has over 19 assembly seats spread across four districts. In the 2018 elections, BJP did not win any seats in Bharatpur, Karauli and Sawai Madhopur, winning one seat in Dholpur. The MLA later joined the Congress.

Amit Shah’s rally will consolidate the party’s position in the region where it won 13 of the 28 seats in 2023. Shah is likely to raise the issue of Kanhaiyalal, a Hindu tailor from the region who was killed by two Muslim assailants.