On Sunday, senior BJP leader and former Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje’s statement, “Wafa ka wo daur alag tha”, on loyalty and political growth has created ripples amongst the corridors of Bharatiya Janta Party.
While speaking on the occasion of the death anniversary of Jan Sangh founding member Sundar Singh Bhandari and the martyrdom day of the founder of RSS idealogue Dr Syama Prasad Mookerjee, Raje said, “Sundar Singh Bhandari belonged to an “era of loyalty” where the person who would promote you and take you forward in the politics was respected. But this is not the case in the present times in politics. In the present times, the people want to chop off the fingers of those, from whom they learnt to walk”.
Raje also remembered her mentors former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and former Vice President Bhairon Singh Shekhawat among other BJP and RSS leaders, and praised how they guided her and many other young leaders.
This is the first public controversial remark made by Vasundhara Raje, since December when BJP came to power and she was sidelined by the party, by not reappointing her as the CM for the third time. Her statement also sheds light on the internal political rift in the BJP, especially after the party’s bad performance in the recent Lok Sabha polls, reducing it to 14 seats out of 25 Lok Sabha seats. Raje has maintained a low profile since December 2023.
According to the political experts Raje’s statement hinted on the present leadership in the party and giving the top posts to the new faces.
“Vasundhara Raje may have read out the names of the Chief Minister Bhajan Lal Sharma and the two deputy chief ministers Diya Kumari and Prem Chand Bairwa from a paper given to her by BJP leader Rajnath Singh at the BJP headquarters in December. But at the same time her being ignored by the central leadership and watching from the sidelines the rise of her former protege, with whom she now shares a shaky relationship, is reflecting in the statement," a BJP leader told Outlook.
Sources in the BJP also state that Raje is also upset by not elevating her son Dushyant Singh, a sitting MP from Jhalawar for the fifth time, as a minister in PM Narendra Modi’s cabinet. “After the Lok Sabha results it was also discussed that in Raje’s leadership, the numbers could have been better for the BJP despite the BJP not performing well in Rajasthan, Raje’s son Dushyant Singh won with a huge margin from Jhalawar constituency, was not given a ministerial berth in the Modi’s cabinet. This has also irked her," the BJP leader said.
Besides Raje, all the top political leaders, who are close to her including former minister Rajpal Singh Shekhawat, Rajendra Rathore, Narpat Singh Rajavi and former BJP chief Ashok Parnami have been sidelined by the party.
