MP strategy may be BJP’s mantra for polls in Rajasthan

The central leadership of the BJP is planning to replicate the Madhya Pradesh model for the upcoming assembly polls in Rajasthan.

In order to do this, the party is likely to involve  three power centres: the chief minister, the state president and the election committee convener.

This implies that Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje may not get a free hand to do things her way. Currently, the control lies with her. 

The BJP had adopted this formula in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections. That year, Narendra Modi was not declared the Prime Ministerial candidate but was made chief of the election committee. Later, Modi became the PM.

In Madhya Pradesh, besides chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, the BJP will involve the new state chief and election committee chief in the poll process.

The central leadership has already removed Ashok Parnami from the post of Rajasthan state president and in view of the year-end polls, there may be an overhaul in the state BJP to tame factionalism in the party.

The BJP has forwarded Union Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat’s name as state president. But a faction of the state’s leaders is against this. Some leaders of Rajasthan met the party’s national president Amit Shah on Friday to discuss the issue. This has prompted the party to put on hold its decision to announce the name of a new state president.

In Rajasthan, the state president and the election committee chief are considering on the basis of caste equations.