Vasundhara Raje has so far refrained from publicly airing her views on the current turmoil in Rajasthan, either personally or through her social media posts while almost all senior have welcomed Sachin. Some even have welcomed him in the party.

Those voicing sympathy for Pilot include BJP vice-president Om Prakash Mathur, Rajasthan unit president Satish Poonia, Union minister Gajendra Shekhawat and former law minister P.P. Choudhary.

Significantly in the last 24 hours, Raje’s Twitter handle has paid homage to cows, paid tributes to social reformer Gopal Ganesh Agarkar on his birth anniversary, and former RSS chief Rajju Bhaiyya on his death anniversary and even wished the people of Tripura on the occasion of Ker Puja, it has adopted a passive attitude towards the current political development. Shehad issued only one statement wherein she had said politicians are not concerned at miseries of the people of the state.

It is a known secret that she does not have a cordial relation with the two top leaders, Narendra Modi and Amit Shah. They have been having bitter tussle over the appointment of the BJP’s new state unit chief.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is likely to intervene for clearing the list of BJP candidates in Rajasthan as the stand-off between BJP chief Amit Shah and the former Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje shows no sign of ending. In order to slash the influence and control of Raje over the party, Shah was hell bent on denying tickets to her supporters. The senior state leaders’ confide that Shah desired that she should abide by his dictates which was not acceptable to Maharani.

Shah has in fact been performing the task for spokesperson of the leaders opposed to Raje. While he held that there should be multiple choices of candidates for about 150 seats in Rajasthan, Raje was against this move on the grounds that the party could run into a large-scale rebellion in election times.

Amit Shah at the suggestions of the leaders opposed to Raje has been determined to bring in Sachin Pilot in the party. These leaders are confident that if Sachin is entrusted with the task to run the government he would succeed in eclipsing Raje. At present the state BJP does not have any leader who could challenge the authority and clout of Vasundhara Raje.

Her having a good relation with the Congress chief minister Ashok Gehlot has been causing concern in the BJP circle. Apprehensions are being expressed that her supporters may bailout Gehlot government on the no trust motion. These leaders point out that only a major split in the Congress can salvage the situation and make the followers of Raje retreat.

The brinkmanship of the Governor Kalraj Mishra is being cited as the tactics of the party to split the Congress legislature party vertically. The aggressiveness of Gehlot is being viewed as Congress counter move to foil this attempt. The strategy of the BJP has been to create panic in

It is not without reason that the rebels had deliberately absented themselves from two crucial CLP meetings held on 13.07.20 and 14.07.20 despite repeated reminders and notices. The Congress members nurse the view that the High Court may give its verdict against the notice of July 14 issued by the Speaker calling for comments of the Respondents on the disqualification petitions filed against them under the Tenth Schedule.

It is worth mentioning that BJP has acquired expertise in engineering defections and installing its own governments in the states. During six years of Modi government as many as 119 Congress MLAs in various states have switched sides to the BJP. They apprehend High Court’s interim order in rebel Congress MLA Sachin Pilot’s case may have the undesirable effect of diluting the anti-defection law, curtailing the powers of the Speaker and damaging the well-established law on legislative privileges. The disqualification notice against the rebels has been stayed by the Rajasthan High Court without any detailed, reasoned order.

The manner in which Modi and Shah have been working in Rajasthan crisis, makes its explicit that they forgot the bare fact that the country is more important than BJP expansionism. Else they would not have resorted to such game. While Modi has been talking to contain corona, but he has not been giving enough scope and time to Gehlot this pandemic. During last four months things have gone from bad to worse.

Sachin Pilot’s dual speak, first that he was a committed Congressman and the second, his keenness to sit in the lap of BJP, makes it crystal clear that he realises from the day he turned rebel that Vasundhara Raje would make it impossible for him to join the BJP and rule Rajasthan. He has been playing the game of the BJP. His dropping the indication that he would form his own party and become the chief minister with outside support from the BJP, is purely aimed at Vasundhara Raje. (IPA Service)