‘There will be surprises in Rajasthan ticket distribution’
JAIPUR: Union HRD minister Prakash Javadekar is the BJP’S election in-charge for Rajasthan. In an interview to
Javadekar spoke on a host of issues ranging from lynchings to anger against chief minister Vasundhara Raje to campaign and ticket distribution. Edited excerpts:
shi Dev Rawal, Urva-
change in regime and this time it will be BJP phir se (once again). This time too everybody wants Modiji to be repeated and Raje has performed. People want double engine growth — Modiji from Delhi and Vasundhara ji from Jaipur. many surprises. Yes, I agree that cutting tickets (to sitting legislators) will help the party. They have not gone away from BJP. BJP is the only party which has really honoured Raj- puts. What Manvendra Singh did today is that he betrayed the party which gave all honours to Jaswant Singh ji and his family. He was finance, defence and external affairs minister, five times Rajya Sabha member and twice Lok Sabha MP. We gave him eminence. Manvendra joined his father when he rebelled against the BJP in 2014. He was suspended MLA for the last four years he was not with BJP. This will have no impact. Congress is a party that has lost steam, it has lost the plot. Rahul Gandhi is proving to be a liability because wherever he goes, they lose. In Rajasthan they are a divided house.
Infighting between Gehlot and Pilot is visible to everyone. Gehlot has said that some leaders have paid money for hiking their rating. When Gehlot tries to address people, Pilot supporters hoot him. So this is the state of affairs in the Congress. Lynching anywhere is bad. It is condemnable and must be punished heavily.
But this did not start in 2014. Unfortunately, it was a Congress legacy.
In Gujarat, when 52 kar sevaks were burnt alive that was the worst kind of lynching. In 1984, when 3000 Sikhs were burnt alive that was also lynching and in Bhagalpur when Muslims were burnt alive that was also lynching.
Law and order is a state subject and the state has acted and taken effective steps.