It has been a week now after the release of the first list of 41 candidates of BJP in Rajasthan but the party is finding it difficult to pacify the protests on more than half a dozen seats. The party's decision to field MPs is not getting the desired response as most of them are facing protests from the local contenders.
The BJP in Rajasthan took the lead by announcing 41 candidates on October 9th but it did not go the right way as the protests started on many seats as soon as the list came out. The party head office in Jaipur was flooded by the angry supporters of contenders who were denied tickets by the party for 4-5 days.
For damage control, the party had to form a committee of senior leaders to pacify the angry workers and to hold talks with contenders, but it seems that workers and leaders of a claimed to be disciplined party have decided to go the other way as some of the aspirant candidates have announced to contest the election as an independent candidate.
BJP confident of bringing situation under control
However, party leaders are confident of getting rid of the situation as time passes. The leader of the opposition Rajendra Rathore said 'an immediate reaction of supporters is normal in the election but we are a cadare base party and very soon things will be under control."
There are more than half a dozen seats where the other contenders are strongly opposing the declared candidates and interestingly most of them are MPs.
Tijara - MP from Alwar Baba Balaknath will contest this seat and he is being challenged by the former MLA Maman Yadav.
Jhotwara - MP from Jaipur rural seat Colonel Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore has been given a ticket from Jhotwara seat of Jaipur. The major contender for this seat was Rajpal Singh Shekhwat who was twice from Jhotwara and was a minister in the Vasundhara Raje government. He is known to be a Raje loyalist and putting him out of this seat surprised everyone. Now his supporters are strongly opposing Rathore. One more ticket contender Ashu Singh Surpura has also announced to contest the elections. In such a situation, there is a possibility of a triangular contest here.
Kishangarh – The party has given a ticket to Ajmer MP Bhagirath Chaudhary from the Kishangarh Assembly seat and he is being opposed by the supporters of Vikas Choudhary who was the candidate of BJP from this seat last time but lost the election
Sanchore - BJP has fielded Jalour MP Devji Patel as its candidate from Sanchore. Supporters of ticket contender Danaram Chaudhary and former MLA Jeevaram Chaudhary have joined hands to oppose Dev ji Patel. Recently, there was also an attempt to attack Devji Patel's vehicle.
Vidyadhar Nagar – The party has given a ticket to Rajsamand MP Diya Kumari from the Vidyadhar Nagar seat. Narpat Singh Rajvi, son-in-law of former Vice President Bhairon Singh Shekhawat, has been continuously winning from this seat. Despite this, the party replaced him with Diya Kumari. Rajvi strongly opposed the party's decision later went on the back foot after a closed-door meeting with the party in charge Arun Singh.
Besides above mentioned seats, there are voices of protest in seats like Nagar in Bharatpur, Kotputli in Jaipur, Sawai Madhopur, in Jhunjhunu and Lakshmangarh in Sikar. The deliberations in the second list of candidates are in the final phase and may be released at any time.
