Rajput group to Shah: Appoint Shekhawat as state BJP chief
An influential Rajput outfit wants Union minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat appointed as Rajasthan BJP chief and will be soon sending postcards in thousands to party national president Amit Shah urging him to the needful.
The move is likely to have an impact on the ongoing tussle between Shah and chief minister Vasundhara Raje, who are not on the same page when it comes to appointing the new state party chief.
While Shah wants to appoint Shekhawat, a Member of Parliament from Jodhpur and tall Rajput leader, the Raje camp is opposing his name ostensibly because it would upset the Jat community in Rajasthan. Jats constitute about 12% of the state’s population. The Raje camp wants Srichand Kriplani, the cabinet minister for urban development and housing, appointed to the position.
Shri Rashtriya Rajput Karni Sena national secretary Surajpal Singh Amu said members of the outfit will send postcards to Shah to urge him to appoint Shekhawat to the post. “There is widespread resentment in the community on delay in the announcement of his name,” he said.
Sena president Sukhdev Singh Gogamedi has supported the move.
With the party central leadership rejecting the names suggested by Raje, the announcement of Rajasthan BJP president has been deferred and will take place after the Karnataka election results are out. Sources said that after the party national general secretary, Ram Lal, put pressure on Raje to accept the party’s nominee, she got in touch with Union transport minister Nitin Gadkari, who met Shah and RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat to try and convince them about dropping Shekhwat’s name. Shah, who also met Bhagwat to apprise him about the situation, has postponed the final decision as he was busy campaigning in Karnataka.
Gogamedi has also given an ultimatum to the Rajasthan government to implement the agreement reached between the community leaders and the government in July 2017 after the encounter of gangster Anandpal.
“We will launch protests across the state at divisional level if the government doesn’t agree to our demands by May 20,” he said.
Sena leaders were critical of the state government saying it had not taken any steps to address the concerns raised by the community. Shri Rashtriya Rajput Karni Sena had remained at the forefront of the protests against Bollywood film Padmaavat and Amu and reportedly offered a Rs 10-crore bounty for beheading actor Deepika Padukone and director Sanjay Leela Bhansali.
Ahead of the by-elections to two parliamentary and one assembly seats in January, Rajput organisations had announced their support to the Congress and some community leaders had also campaigned for the Opposition candidates on all three seats. The Congress had won the three bypolls.
JAIPUR: If I am nobody, then you are also nobody…How dare you speak about me like this?If I am nobody, then it is the problem of my parents and husband; Why you are concerned