Former Rajasthan CM Vasundhara Raje on Tuesday met Bharatiya Janata Party president J P Nadda, days after she met PM Modi, as the party prepares to work on its Rajasthan unit in preparation of the assembly elections in the state in 2023.
The senior BJP leader has also met Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, Union Road and Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari and finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman in the last few days.
Raje, who has been away from political events, has made her presence known in the last few weeks. Her birthday was seen as a show of strength, and her inclusion on the dias during the swearing in of Uttarakhand CM Pushkar Singh Dhami was seen as her coming back to the race.
Since January this year, Raje has been meeting senior leaders and her hour-long meeting with home minister and party’s key election strategist Amit Shah in January set the ball rolling.
A few months prior to that, in a review meeting of BJP MPs in August last year held by Nadda, Raje’s unexpected presence first marked her reentry into politics after a brief lull that saw infighting within the state unit.
Constant conflicts
Several state party leaders have tried to have Raje sidelined, and there has been constant conflicts between her camp and those of her opponents. Raje has also started posting on social media against Rajasthan CM Ashok Gehlot.
The change within the BJP does not make it easy for the Congress, which will have to be prepared to face an united BJP as opposed to a state unit with several contenders, as well as a disgruntled Sachin Pilot.
The Congress was voted to power in Rajasthan in 2018, stopping a few seats short of the majority and forming the government with the help of BSP and independent MLAs.
In the 2019 General Elections, however, the Bharatiya Janata Party bagged all the 25 seats in the state.
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