New Delhi: Reports sugges that rebellion in the BJP’s ranks in Rajasthan is bubbling over after the first list of candidates to contest the state election was released last week.Rajasthan goes to the polls on November 25. The date was shifted from the 23rd after the announcement.IANS reports that many of former chief minister Vasundhara Raje’s loyalists have been “sidelined” in the first list and protests in their favour have erupted across the state. Daily protests are taking place at party offices. Supporters of leaders feeling sidelined claim that they have “worked hard for the party but have been denied tickets due to political divisions.”There are reports of protests from the Vidhyadhar Nagar constituency where the BJP has announced the candidature of Rajsamand MP Diya Kumari instead of Narpat Singh Rajvi, the son-in law of former chief minister, vice president of India and BJP stalwart, the late Bhairon Singh Shekhawat.According to a Times of India report, the BJP’s central leadership is “upset at the brewing mutiny in the state unit”. The BJP’s defeat in Karnataka came despite – or because of – its confidence in the ‘central’ push, setting aside local leaders and factors. The loss in Himachal Pradesh’s assembly polls, despite being party president J.P. Nadda’s home state, also would be looming large on its calculations. MPs as MLA candidatesThe BJP has announced MP Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore as its candidate for Jhotwara assembly seat. In this seat, supporters of former minister Rajpal Singh Shekhawat are said to have shown black flags to Rathore on Sunday.India Today reckons that the BJP’s first list of 41 (of a total of 200 seats in Rajasthan) has 19 such seats where the BJP faces the prospect of potential rebels, many of whom may contest as independents. Some have already said they will.According to India Today, in Tijara, the ticket has gone to Alwar MP Baba Balak Nath. Maman Singh Yadav, who was expecting to be nominated, has said that he would run as an independent candidate. The Hindu reports that Baba Balak Nath uses the tagline “Rajasthan Ka Yogi” for himself.In Nagar, where Anita Singh Gurjar, another Vasundhara loyalist who was elected as an MLA twice in the past, has been dropped and the BJP gave the ticket to Jawahar Singh Bedham. Anita Singh Gurjar on Facebook last week, made no bones about why she thinks she has was dropped: “The BJP has not given me a ticket due to my proximity to Vasundharaji. Instead, they gave the ticket to someone who lost in another constituency by 50,000 votes. Here, he will forfeit his deposit as well.” She announced her intention to run as an independent candidate.Vasundhara versus Gehlot contest?Instead of having a CM-face and pushing for collective leadership and projecting “the lotus as the face”, the BJP central leadership has made its intention of a future where Vasundhara Raje is not central to the party in Rajasthan. There have been reports of Raje being asked to contest against chief minister Ashok Gehlot in Jodhpur’s Sardarpura, but reports also say she is clear that she wants to be declared as the party’s CM candidate in return. Vasundhara Raje is currently an MLA from Jhalarapatan and has been for four consecutive tenues. Ashok Gehlot has been the Sardarpura MLA since 1998.
