Why BJP is bringing Vasundhara Raje to centre stage of Rajasthan campaign one step at a time

The BJP in Rajasthan is struggling to build tempo for its assembly election campaign even as the party has launched four Parivartan Yatras from different corners of the state between September 2 and 5. A shift in strategy is in the works to subtly bring former chief minister Vasundhara Raje to the centre stage against the Ashok Gehlot-led ruling Congress.

On September 6, four BJP leaders—Raje; Arun Singh, general secretary in charge of Rajasthan; state president C.P. Joshi; and Chandrashekhar, general secretary (organisation)—held a meeting at the BJP office in Jaipur. The meeting was scheduled to be held at Raje’s residence, but the venue was shifted to apparently avoid any suggestion that she was likely to be the face of the BJP campaign. The wavering stand on Raje could be a key reason for the BJP being unable to build a wave against the Gehlot government yet.

The meeting, party insiders say, was called on a prompt from Union home minister Amit Shah, who had flagged off one of the four yatras. Shah asked Raje and other prominent party leaders to together work out a strategy for the weakest seats and come up with a list of probable candidates. The BJP top brass has lately been communicating more with Raje but they are still not involving her in any decision-making. Raje has not been given any official designation for elections, such as head of the campaign committee, that would authorise her to chair the poll meetings. So, this meeting ended without any fruitful discussion.

Nevertheless, there are signs in favour Raje. Union minister Nitin Gadkari, while launching the last of the four yatras in Hanumangarh on September 5, ended his speech by referring to her work as chief minister and asking people to vote back Raje’s government if they wanted even better work than what she has delivered in the past.

There is perhaps realisation in the BJP top brass that the state unit has erroneously given feedback that the party can win up to 155 of the 200 assembly seats in Rajasthan without Raje, and that this impression could have much to do with anti-Raje camps at work. The feedback included the suggestion that Prime Minister Narendra Modi lead the Rajasthan campaign. At the PM’s recent rallies in the state, the audience was seen chanting slogans in favour of Raje, besides Modi. The top brass thereafter sought Raje’s views and agreed with her advice to use Modi sparingly and strategically at crucial stages of the campaign and wherever the party needed to mobilise voters on a wide scale. Assessments by the BJP high command suggest the party is in a position of advantage in Rajasthan but far from sweeping the polls.

Frequent rallies by party bigwigs are feared to be causing voter fatigue. For instance, the launch of the Parivartan Yatras by BJP national president Nadda, Shah, and Union ministers Rajnath Singh and Gadkari saw crowds of about a few thousand only. By deputing Gadkari and Singh, who have close ties with Raje, to launch the yatras, the BJP high command has signalled that it is now more welcoming of Raje in its scheme of things for the state election. Besides, Shah has always publicly given Raje more importance than other state BJP leaders.

As the yatras progress, with rallies being held across assembly segments, the response again has been nowhere close to what Raje’s rallies got during her Parivartan Yatras in 2003 and 2013. People would queue up or sit on rooftops along the yatra route to get a glimpse of her.

The BJP is now asking its prominent leaders in Rajasthan to take turns to attend the Parivartan Yatra rallies. “This is how we have to build tempo and create an atmosphere in the party’s favour,” says a BJP leader planning the yatras.

While Raje’s yatras used to be organised with months of planning, the current yatra lacks enough groundwork and is seen as an extension of the Jan Aakrosh Yatra that former BJP state president Satish Poonia held, without much impact. The Jan Aakrosh Yatra was organised hurriedly and many saw it as preempting a move by the high command to make Raje lead the Parivartan Yatra.

“It seems PM Modi and Amit Shah are still finding it difficult to sidestep leaders who had all this while been allowed to target Raje,“ says a BJP veteran, requesting anonymity. If a course-correction is needed, there is little time left for it. If the top brass intends to bank on Raje, she will need to enjoy the open backing of Modi-Shah to send a message to the party unit as well as people. Else, the BJP will have to rely on luck to be able to form the next government in Rajasthan or devise a new strategy, such as buying itself more time by clubbing the state polls with general elections next year.

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