Declaring that the countdown for the exit of the Congress government in Rajasthan had begun with the announcement of Assembly election dates, Union Minister Gajendra Shekhawat said Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot’s decision to announce a caste survey in the State was an electoral “sleight of hand”. The Election Commission on Monday declared a single phase poll on November 23 for Rajasthan, with counting of votes and declaration of results to be done on December 3.
Speaking to The Hindu, Mr. Shekhawat said that the people of Rajasthan could see through the tactics of the Congress in asking for a caste survey. “It is not caste census, it is a survey, as a census is the prerogative of the Union government as per our Constitution. You can understand for yourself what is the sanctity and purpose of this announcement made a day before the Model Code of Conduct was put in place. Its only a ‘chunaavi shagoofa’ [electoral sleight of hand] and people of Rajasthan have already made up their minds to show Congress the door,” he said.
Mr. Shekhawat, who is also considered a favourite to be Chief Minister in case of a BJP victory, dismissed reports that he was to be fielded in these Assembly elections, quite in the manner seven Lok Sabha members in Madhya Pradesh (of whom three are Union Ministers) had been asked to contest. Union Ministers Narendra Singh Tomar, Faggan Singh Kulaste and Prahlad Patel have been announced as candidates in Madhya Pradesh Assembly poll as have four other Lok Sabha members by the BJP in its second list.
“Who among these seven [LS members] took the decision to contest Assembly polls as their own personal decision? The party’s parliamentary board decided and asked them to contest. These decisions are with the party. Why me, none of the over one crore party karyakartas in Rajasthan BJP will say ‘no’ if asked to contest by the party. You and I should not worry, the party will decide these things,” he said.
On the BJP not projecting a face, not even that of former Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje, considered the only pan-Rajasthan face of the party, Mr. Shekhawat put it down to the exigencies of changing strategies. “In 2017, did we project a chief ministerial face in Uttar Pradesh,” he asked. He dismissed all talk that Ms. Raje had been sidelined by the BJP just as similar sidelining was being alleged about Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan. “Vasundharaji has not been sidelined. She is our respected national vice- president, she is part and parcel of our entire decision-making process for deciding candidates, campaigns and strategies. She was and is our leader. She and all of us are here to make sure that we create history with the majority that the BJP will get in these polls,” he said.
He added that BJP will be going after the Congress government’s record in Rajasthan. “The jungle raj that was the Congress administration in the State, the break down of law and order, the unsafe situation for our sisters and daughters, the large scale corruption of the Ashok Gehlot government will all be our planks. The countdown for the exit of the Congress from Rajasthan has begun from today,” he said.
