Rajasthan Assembly Elections 2018: Amit Shah unhappy with panels, BJP list deferred till Diwali

The Rajasthan unit of BJP will apparently not be able to meet its declared deadline of announcing first list of candidates before Diwali. This is because the state unit of the party would have to rework the panels of possible candidates. 

It is believed that the central BJP had sought a panel with at least three possible candidates along with detailed information about the seat, but this parameter was not fulfilled. This possibility gained weight when chief minister Vasundhara Raje who was in Delhi on Wednesday for a meeting with national president Amit Shah and core committee members returned to Jaipur and had a long consultation with senior leader Om Prakash Mathur at his Jaipur residence on Thursday.     

Sources within BJP say the Central leadership wants a panel with at least three names and the pros and cons about the scenario in case those candidates are fielded. It also seeks a comparison of the situations in the state in 2013 and 2018. The BJP Parliamentary Board would now meet after Diwali.

Amit Shah, who was in Gujarat on the occasion of unveiling of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel’s Statue of Unity, had left for Delhi from Baroda at 2.55 pm by a chartered plane and reached Delhi at 4.10 pm. He then had a meeting with Rajasthan chief minister Vasundhara Raje on the list of possible candidates. Sources add that he was not satisfied with the inputs. This is when the matter of discussing Rajasthan candidates was deferred till after Diwali.

On returning from Delhi, Raje had a long meeting with Rajya Sabha MP Om Prakash Mathur at Jaipur. Raje had been at a disadvantaged position with central party leadership over the issue of state party president. 

Burying the differences, she had turned towards Mathur who helped to bring about an end to the stand off. Mathur who enjoys good relations with Shah and Modi confirmed the meeting to DNA, “I am a party man and work on party guidelines. I do not hold consultations. Meeting chief minister is a routine process as it is election time and we are both from Rajasthan.”

When asked about the issue in Jaipur, MoS Agriculture Gajendra Singh Shekhawat gave a cautious reply, “Correct decisions will be taken at correct time by the party Parliamentary Board.” Meanwhile, Congress is all set to declare its first list before Diwali.