Rajasthan: Will BJP project Vasundhara as its face again?

Just before Holi in the first week of March this year, Rajasthan BJP planned a massive demonstration in Jaipur to corner the Ashok Gehlot government on the paper leak controversy. The assembly was in session and state BJP chief Satish Punia was to lead the protest.

The same day, more than 40 party MLAs and over 10 MPs gave the pre-scheduled party program a miss and instead travelled to Churu- 240 km from Jaipur- where former CM Vasundhara Raje Scindhia was the chief guest in a Spring festival.

The message from Churu was loud and clear. Raje had once again demonstrated her unwavering hold over the state BJP and the legislature party. Not surprisingly, three weeks later, Punia, who had been at the loggerheads with the Raje camp was summarily removed by Delhi and replaced with Chittorgarh MP C P Joshi.

Punia is not the first casualty in the long list of leaders who have perished while challenging Raje’s hegemony in the Rajasthan BJP. Drafted into state politics ahead of the 2003 assembly elections when party stalwart Bhairon Singh Shekhawat was elected the vice president of India, her transfer to Rajasthan, in retrospect, was a watershed moment for the party.

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In the elections managed by Pramod Mahajan, BJP was able to garner votes beyond its traditional catchment area. Party made inroads among intermediary castes like Jats that were traditionally associated with the Congress. By projecting her as the CM candidate, BJP also succeeded in reaching out to a large section of women voters across social divides in a rigid patriarchal setup.

In a surprising outcome, BJP for the first time managed to win an absolute majority in the state assembly- something which even party stalwarts like Shekhawat could never achieve.

And ever since, Vasundhara Raje has never looked back. Over the years, challenges to her leadership have been few and far between. From former foreign minister Jaswant Singh to Shekhawat’s son-in-law Narpat Singh Rajvi to local strongmen like Devi Singh Bhati and Lalit Kishore Chaturvedi- the few who have sought to enter the arena have been comprehensively vanquished.

Raje consolidated her position further in the 2013 assembly polls, winning a record three-fourth majority. However, she lost the next elections in the state whose polity in the last two decades has metamorphosed into a see-saw battle between her and Ashok Gehlot.

Party high command’s plans to draw her out of Rajasthan since have not really taken off. Raje has preferred to remain rooted in state politics despite being nominated as a national vice president even as BJP sought to develop alternative leadership in Punia and union minister Ganjendra Singh Shekhawat.

A failed coup led by Congress leader Sachin Pilot and the party’s defeat in the Karnataka polls this year has given Raje enough leverage to reclaim her leadership position. Ahead of the Lok Sabha elections next year, assembly polls in Rajasthan along with MP and Chattisgarh later this year are crucial for the ruling party.

Last month, amid reports of a rapprochement, Vasundhara Raje travelled to Delhi to meet BJP President J P Nadda and General Secretary Organisation B L Santhosh. She has since actively participated in party programs in and outside Rajasthan. However, the two-time chief minister of the state would want the BJP high command to be more explicit in her projection as the party’s face against Ashok Gehlot in 2023.