Jaipur: Two big public meetings of the Bharatiya Janta Party's (BJP) top brass in Rajasthan in the last two days have created a buzz about the return of former CM Vasundhara Raje to the centre stage of the party.
The gestures shown by party president JP Nadda and Union Home Minister Amit Shah towards Vasundhara Raje in their public meetings at Bharatpur and Udaipur respectively have indicated that Raje may be the front runner for the face of the party in the coming assembly elections of Rajasthan.
Amit Shah was in Udaipur on Friday to address a big public meeting and when the leader of the opposition Rajendra Rathore called Amit Shah to address the public, Shah intervened and asked Rathore to call Raje for the address before him. Besides this, Shah praised Raje for her tenure as CM of Rajasthan and said ‘Vasundhara ji paved a new path of development in Rajasthan.’
Raje exhorts partymen to work hard
Raje’s address also indicated that she is going to get prominence in the poll campaign of the party. She asked the workers to work hard for the elections and at the same time warned them to not be overconfident. “Ganga khud chal kar nahin aati hai," said Raje to the workers.
In Bharatpur also where the party president JP Nadda came to address the public meeting on Thursday, Raje was given the chance to address the public just before Nadda She came to the meeting with Nadda in his car and was given the due importance in the meeting.
Shah-Raje videos have gone viral online
The videos of Shah and Raje have gone viral on social media in Rajasthan and the political corridors of the state are busy speculating about the role Raje is expected to play in the coming days. Local BJP leaders are not ready to comment anything on this on record but said on anonymity that it seems that the party has learned from the Karnataka experience where Yeddyurappa was sidelined.
Senior journalist and political analyst Anil Sharma said "BJP cannot ignore Raje as she is the only leader with popularity across the state. BJP needs a strong local leader as PM Modi alone cannot run a successful campaign as it has proved time and again."
