‘Losses in Alwar, Ajmer byelections were eyeopener for us’

BJP national vice-president Om Prakash Mathur admits the party did not sense anger against the Vasundhara Raje government before bypoll losses in Ajmer and Alwar. In a conversation with Chetan Chauhan and Urvashi Dev Rawal, he claims the BJP has recovered ground. excerpts:

How do you assess BJP’S position in the present elections?

Our position has improved dramatically since we lost the Alwar and Ajmer Lok Sabha bypolls. The loss was an eyeopener for us. An impression was created that people were against CM (Vasundhara Raje) (but) we lost because we failed to project our good work. I also want to challenge the notion that no party returns to power in Rajasthan. In 1990, we formed an alliance government. In 1992, our government was dismissed after the Babri Masjid demolition. But again our party formed government in 1993. I am sure we will repeat 1993 in 2018.

Why are you confident of victory?

You will not agree that BJP is winning, but you will agree that BJP is in a fight. Four things have made the difference — our strong organisation, united cadre, effective leadership and BJP governments at the centre and state. We have ensured that Rajasthan gained maximum from the central government. In the next four days, our workers will get in touch with one crore families and will explain the gains of this double-engine growth (the benefit of having BJP governments in centre and state, simultaneously). People now realise that the BJP is for the poor and downtrodden, which used to be Congress’s trademark. This is Modiji’s contribution.

It is said Vasundhara Raje and her cabinet ministers were inaccessible for the first four years.

This maybe true to some extent, and was a reason why our cadre got disillusioned. Vasundharaji did a lot of work but was not able to market it well. We told Vasundharaji to take out a Gaurav Yatra. She became the first CM to take her government’s report card to the people. We also organised beneficiary sammelans.

Will BJP benefit from Congress not declaring a CM candidate?

Yes. The Congress is leaderless in Rajasthan. I have been in public life since 1972 and have never seen Congress workers getting violent after announcement of tickets. It clearly shows the Congress is a divided house. In BJP, we sought views of present and former office-bearers. We looked at social and caste equations. Because of this, we didn’t face much rebellion

Rahul Gandhi’s meetings are attracting a lot of people.

People go to the meetings of all leaders. The Congress has a base, it has been in the state since Independence. I don’t think people coming to rallies is a measure of winnability.

You gave tickets to one Muslim each in Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh. Does it mean you don’t want Muslim votes?

It’s not that we don’t need Muslim votes. BJP is making political inroads and some decisions are made as per strategy.