‘Centre calling shots, muffled state leadership’: Inside Rajasthan BJP rebellion over poll tickets

Despite efforts to mollify disgruntled ticket contenders, protests going strong in dozen seats for a week. BJP chief JP Nadda has met state leaders & asked them to set house in order.

The BJP is busy dousing fires in its faction-ridden Rajasthan unit, which erupted in protests in the wake of the party’s first list of 41 candidates released last Monday for the poll-bound state.

Though the party fielded seven MPs on seats considered “weak”, prominent names missing from the list were of former chief minister Vasundhara Raje; Narpat Singh Rajvi, son-in-law of former CM Bhairon Singh Shekhawat, and Rajpal Singh Shekhawat, a Raje loyalist.

Over the past week, fights have broken out over at least a dozen seats, especially those on which MPs have been fielded, including Vidyadhar Nagar, Jhotwara, Kishangarh, Nagar, Tonk, Sanchore, and Kotputli.

BJP sources that disgruntled ticket aspirants and their supporters are not following state leaders’ command to make peace and work together for the official candidate.

Since the announcement of the second candidate list is due, BJP national president J.P. Nadda has himself stepped in to contain the resentment. He met Rajasthan unit leaders in Udaipur and Jodhpur Monday and asked them to set the house in order and contain rebellion as early as possible, sources said.

Narayan Singh Panchariya, head of BJP’s election management committee, “The party has deputed several leaders in different regions to mollify those who are angry and we are hopeful they will listen to the senior leaders in order to defeat the Congress (currently in power in the state).”

However, a former Rajasthan BJP president did not share the same optimism.

“The reason behind such rebellion is the shrinking stature of BJP’s state leaders and their (little) say in decision-making,” he said. “Why will local leaders listen to state leaders when the (central) high command is taking decisions on tickets?”

“State leaders can no longer convince central leaders and there’s a vacuum in terms of mass leaders, which is fuelling such rebellion in several states. Vasundhara Raje is not an ultimate stop now for tickets, so it has become a free-for-all to express anger.