The BJP has been quick to correct its course in the aftermath of Manvendra fallout.
In an act of son avenging his father's humiliation, Manvendra Singh, BJP legislator from Sheo, Barmer, took the hand of Congress in a formal ceremony at the All India Congress Committee (AICC) headquarters in New Delhi on Wednesday.
Singh switched loyalty to avenge the party snubbing his father and former foreign affairs minister in Atal Bihari Vajpayee government, Jaswant Singh Jasol, who was denied a ticket by the BJP to contest the Barmer-Jaisalmer parliamentary seat in the 2014 general elections that saw Narendra Modi rise to the post of Prime Minister of India.
By roping in Singh, Congress has got both aces of the Marwar region up its sleeve. The party until now fielded Jat candidate from Barmer in polls against BJP's choice of a Rajput contestant. Harish Choudhary, who is the face of the party in the region, drove Singh to the AICC headquarters, in an act that is symbolic of the Unlikely Rajput-Jat combine in the region.
The BJP has been quick to correct its course in the aftermath of Manvendra fallout. Party in-charge Prakash Javadekar said that no community is feeling alienated, in a reference to Singh's statement that Rajputs have been neglected by the BJP and the Vasundhara Raje government in Rajasthan. He said, however, that the party is addressing the concerns of all communities.
He's not far from truth. The BJP, hit by Singh's exit, has decided to field more Rajput candidates in the districts of Jodhpur, Barmer, Jaisalmer, and Pali to counter Singh's plot of positioning himself as the face of Rajput electorate in the Marwar segment.
One of the ploys, the BJP is mulling, is to field union minister of state for agriculture, Gajendra Singh Shekhawat as a candidate from a seat in Marwar in the upcoming Assembly polls. The sitting MP has extensively worked with RSS affiliates in Jaisalmer and Barmer and holds influence in Marwar belt.
It is for the same reason that Shekhawat was Amit Shah's choice to lead the state unit when the post of BJP president fell vacant early this year. Vasundhara's resistance dropped Shekhawat in order to position the current president Madan Lal Saini.
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