JAIPUR, Sept 28: Union home minister Amit Shah and BJP president J P Nadda wound up their
Rajasthan visit Thursday morning after meetings with the party’s state leadership that went late into
the night, discussing strategy for the upcoming assembly elections.
The meetings began at a hotel late on Wednesday evening and continued till 2 am, party sources
said.
The discussions were held amid a buzz that two central ministers might be asked to contest the
upcoming polls. The speculation follows the BJP’s decision to name three Union ministers and four
MPs in its second list of candidates for poll-bound Madhya Pradesh.
Following the meeting, both Shah and Nadda left for Delhi on Thursday. A meeting with local RSS
leaders was not held, party sources said.
“Discussions on election strategy were held in the meeting last night,” Gajendra Singh Shekhawat
told reporters at the hotel on Thursday.
Shah and Nadda arrived in Jaipur on a special plane on Wednesday evening and headed to the hotel
near the airport for the core committee meeting. Party sources said that Shah and Nadda first held a
meeting with former Rajasthan chief minister Vasundhara Raje for around 15 minutes.
It was followed by a meeting with senior leaders in which the party’s election strategy was
discussed. Feedback on the four ‘Parivartan Yatras’ that the BJP held recently was also discussed.
Union minister and the party’s election in-charge for Rajasthan Pralhad Joshi, co-in-charge Nitin
Patel, BJP’s in-charge for Rajasthan Arun Singh, state unit president C P Joshi, union ministers
Gajendra Singh, Arjun Meghwal, Kailash Chaudhary, leader of opposition in Assembly Rajendra
Rathore, deputy leader of opposition Satish Poonia and other leaders were present at the meeting,
the sources said.
The meeting continued for around three hours. Poonia and MP Rajyavardhan Rathore were the first
to leave the venue after the first round. Nadda and Shah held the next round of meeting with the
BJP’s national general secretary (organisation) B L Santosh, Union minister Pralhad Joshi, Nitin Patel,
Arun Singh, Kuldeep Vishnoi and Vijaya Rahatkar, among others, the party sources said.
“The leaders held discussions on the assembly constituencies and brainstormed on ways to win the
maximum number of seats in Mewar, Vagad, Shekhawati, Hadauti and Marwar regions and in
eastern Rajasthan in the assembly and Lok Sabha elections,” a source said.
“During the meeting, a clear message was sent out that the party organisation is supreme and all
have to work together to ensure victory of the party in the elections.” Some leaders said that ticket
distribution and other poll-related issues were discussed in the meeting.
Sources in the BJP’s Rajasthan unit said Union Jal Shakti minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat and law
minister Arjun Ram Meghwal may be fielded in the assembly polls, along with some other MPs.
However, the party leaders who came out of the hotel refrained from sharing details of the meeting
with the media. Convener of the election management committee Narayan Panchariya said the
party’s authorised person will share details of the meeting with the media.
There is speculation that senior RSS pracharak Prakash Chand may be given certain responsibilities in
the upcoming Assembly election. (PTI)
