Ashok Gehlot and Sachin Pilot fought for five years to be the face in Rajasthan and forgot about governance, BJPs Jaipur (Rural) MP and now candidate from Jhotwara assembly seat, Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore, has told News18 in an interview. He added that the BJP’s face was Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his way of working.
Speaking to News18 from Jaipur, Rathore also said former chief minister Vasundhara Raja was present in the meeting which decided his ticket and of six more MPs who feature in the first list of 41 candidates. “She is the one along with others deciding the names, she is part of the strategy,” Rathore said, dismissing suggestions that Raje was being sidelined.
He said Gehlot was “scared” and hence questioned why BJP has fielded MPs. “We are not even bothered about who is standing from the Congress,” Rathore told News18.
BJP is facing teething issues like protests by other contenders in seats where the MPs have been given tickets, including Jhotwara where former four-time MLA and ex-minister Rajpal Singh Shekhawat has objected to Rathore being fielded. Some Vasundhara Raje loyalists too have been denied tickets.
“Protests are there not because an MP has come to the state. People have personal ambitions and suddenly you are struck by the fact that you will have to put your plan on the back burner. People will get upset, it is a normal thing but in a couple of days, things will become normal. But if that person is going to stab our mother, the BJP, in the back, then the intention of the person is to be questioned,” Rathore told News18.
Edited Excerpts
How would you explain the BJP’s strategy about giving tickets to MPs like you in the state elections?
BJP’s mandate is to win the election; how we do it is up to us. It is the strategy and cannot become a question for the opposition. Gehlot is scared and that is why he is questioning. We are not even bothered about who is standing from the Congress.
When you have served for one or two terms as MP, you learn so much from the prime minister. He also has tremendous amount of confidence in us. In a federal structure, it is normal that the PM would like to send some of the people that he understands and knows can bring the same work culture that he has taught us.
The workers of BJP realise that this is not limited to just the state and know now that this election is very important for BJP like every other election and the party will win every election it goes into. That creates enthusiasm amongst people.
But there are protests in Rajasthan over tickets to MPs, including in your seat…
Protests are not because an MP has come into the state. People have personal ambitions and suddenly you are struck by the fact that you will have to put your plan on the back burner. People will get upset, it is a normal thing, but in a couple of days, things will become normal.
Every faithful BJP worker is committed to the nation and will regain his self-composure in a couple of days and come back into the mainstream. If he does not, people need to know that such a person is putting his personal ambition before the party and the nation.
Every person who has contested elections earlier and has not got the ticket now has made his career due to the BJP which is our mother. BJP created that person. Now if that person is going to stab the mother, BJP, in the back, then the intention of the person is to be questioned.
BJP may give someone an opportunity later, which may be bigger. Many examples are there in the past. An entire Cabinet was removed in Gujarat but BJP got a massive landslide later.
CM Ashok Gehlot has taken a swipe at the BJP, asking how the ‘Lotus’ can become the next CM and questioning the BJP’s face in the state.
Would people want a face like Gehlot in whose term there have been paper leaks 18 times, there are all sorts of mining mafia, every MLA’s single motto is to make as much money as possible but keep the CM’s chair intact, and a state with the highest number of rapes in the country with 17 rapes a day – do people want a face like Gehlot?
If the face symbolises the kind of work you are going to do or the sort of political culture you will bring, we are very clear that PM Modi is our face. His way of working for the people is what we bring to the table. We will deliver and show our report card. It is not dynasty politics or appeasement.
There is a massive difference between the work culture of PM Modi and what is happening in Rajasthan —- we have the highest unemployment in Rajasthan, we have the highest level of corruption in the state, gold is being found in government office almirahs…
Who is the face of the Congress and what work culture do they bring to the table? Is it the same that was happening in Rajasthan in the last five years where we have a record of getting the lowest in providing water but the highest in terms of rape? Or we have somebody else from the central leadership who does not have a vision for the country, leave aside Rajasthan.
They give big slogans like ‘ladki hun lad sakti hun’ but do not see the crimes in Rajasthan because they are responsible. OPS is an empty slogan, cheaper gas cylinder is just a slogan. We are giving gas cylinders now at Rs 600, Gehlot is saying Rs 500 but he should now give it for Rs 100. There is no electricity in Rajasthan but Gehlot is promising free electricity.
The face of Ashok Gehlot and the face of Sachin Pilot — that was the fight wasn’t it over the last five years? Because of that fight, they forgot about governance. They just wanted to hold on to their chair – it was because of that face. The face of the CM is not so important, face of the public is more important. What is important is the kind of governance that you bring to the table.
Is Vasundhara Raje being sidelined as that is the perception? Is the party banking on younger faces like you or Diya Kumari?
Former chief minister Vasundhara Raje was in the meeting which decided the very ticket in my name and those of others. She is the one along with others deciding the names, she is part of the strategy. Only time will tell about the strategy of younger faces.
