Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) seems to be in no hurry to address the political impasse in Rajasthan, where former chief minister Vasundhara Raje has not so far resigned as leader of the Opposition in spite of the party’s diktat, as it faces a far bigger challenge — of contesting Assembly polls in Maharashtra, Haryana and Arunachal Pradesh next month.
Party chief Rajnath Singh held a luncheon meeting with senior leaders Arun Jaitley, Sushma Swaraj, M Venkaiah Naidu and Ram Lal to chalk out a strategy for the October 12 elections, crucial for the party particularly in Maharashtra, where it is yearning to return to power along with its ally Shiv Sena. At the end of the meet, Naidu told reporters that Vasundhara Raje was not given any fresh deadline to abide by the party’s orders. “She can take her time to resign,” he said. Raje, meanwhile, has communicated to BJP leaders that she had been advised “bed rest” by doctors for at least one week.
Naidu admitted that Raje had sent him a letter listing all his demands before she quits the state politics.
The presence of Naidu, Swaraj and Jaitley at the meeting was also significant since the trio, who enjoy the image of L K Advani loyalists and rivals of one another within the party, was significant. All of them were seen together while going to meet Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) chief Mohan Bhagwat last week.
The BJP-Sena alliance faces an uphill task in Maharashtra where the Raj Thackeray-led Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) had played a spoilsport for them in the recent Lok Sabha elections. The MNS had eaten into the Sena vote bank, which helped the Congress win a number of seats. However, the MNS is yet to decide whether to join hands with any other party or go alone.
Out of the 288 seats in the state legislative assembly, the BJP and the Shiv Sena are likely to contest in 117 and 171 seats, respectively. The BJP has 54 legislators, while the Sena had 62 in the state assembly.
In Haryana, the BJP would test the waters on its own after calling off its alliance with the Om Prakash Chautala-led Indian National Lok Dal (INLD). The party had drawn a blank in the last Assembly polls while the INLD had just won nine seats in what was a landslide victory for the Congress.
The BJP had received a major jolt in Arunachal Pradesh recently when Kiren Rijiju, a member of the party’s national executive, joined the Congress. A senior leader admitted that Rijiju’s move was a big jolt to the party. The BJP had won nine seats in the 60-member Assembly in the last elections.
