A political crisis is raging in Rajasthan and the existence of the Ashok Gehlot government has been put on stake. The crisis began during the recently held Rajya Sabha elections on June 19. Gehlot thwarted all attempts and conspiracies and is presently in the process of ensuring safety and stability of his government. His management skills are a sharp reminder of the Rajya Sabha elections for four seats held in Rajasthan four years ago. It also raises the question – if BJP had designs of joining forces with Sachin Pilot to topple the government, why was their own leader, Vasundhara Raje, who has a proven track record not used.
The year was 2016 Raje was the Chief Minister of Rajasthan – her second tenure. The job at hand was ensuring victory of four BJP candidates for four Rajya Sabha seats. All the candidates were high profile and BJP could not take the risk of letting any one of them lose. The numbers were stacked in a way that a slight slip of a vote or two could cause the defeat of one candidate – something Raje could not afford.
The candidates in the fray were then Union Minister Venkaiah Naidu, BJP National Vice President Om Mathur, Dr Harshavardhan Singh and RSS member Ram Kumar Verma.
Just like the extra candidate fielded by BJP this time, even then, a section of the Congress had fielded former Union Minister, industrialist Kamal Morarka as an independent candidate.
In a house of 200, each candidate needed 41 votes to win. BJP had 160 of its own and was short of 4. Morarka had the support of 36 from Congress and other parties and was short of 5 votes. All that was needed was a swing of five votes to ensure the win of Morarka and defeat for any one of the four BJP candidates.
Not going into details of the numbers and cutting the story short – Raje took her flock along with other independents and even MLAs from sworn opponent Zamindara Party to a resort and let them off only after voting was done. All four BJP candidates had won.
Much water has flowed in the Chambal since then and the present scenario has a Vasundhara who has been sidelined by the BJP. The supposed differences between Raje and Modi-Shah have relegated her to a back seat in the state politics while she holds the post of National Vice President. The saffron party is in the process of establishing new leadership in Rajasthan; one that would last the party for the next two decades.
At the same time BJP is also on the path of creating a ‘Congress Mukt Bharat’ and is enthused with its recent success in Madhya Pradesh. But the path across sandy Rajasthan appears to be strewn by boulders.
It wouldn’t be incorrect to say that politics is all about using every available resource. Madhya Pradesh needed a Shivraj Singh Chauhan to work in tandem with the central BJP leadership to engineer a coup with the help of Jyotiraditya Scindia. This raises the question: does Rajasthan need Vasundhara Raje to form a government in Rajasthan?
It cannot be denied that Raje with her loyalists within the BJP and connections within the opposition and independents, combined with her style of blending fear with charm could give better results. Would it not make better sense for BJP to put Raje in the loop in Rajasthan?
But this apparently does not match BJP’s plans for Rajasthan leadership. Thus, being the shrewd politician that she is, Raje continues to maintain stoic silence and stay away from the BJP’s political adventures in the state.
