Union Home Minister Amit Shah (R) and BJP National President JP Nadda. (File: PTI)
There is speculation that senior RSS pracharak Prakash Chand may be given certain responsibilities in the upcoming Assembly election
Union Home Minister Amit Shah and BJP president J P Nadda held night-long discussions with the party’s Rajasthan leadership here on a range of issues about the upcoming assembly elections. The meeting began at a hotel late on Wednesday evening and continued till 2 am, party sources said.
The discussions were held amid a buzz that two central ministers might be asked to contest the upcoming polls. The speculation follows the BJP’s decision to name three Union ministers and four MPs in its second list of candidates for poll-bound Madhya Pradesh.
Shah and Nadda arrived in Jaipur on a special plane on Wednesday evening and headed to a hotel near the airport where the core committee meeting started. Party sources said that Shah and Nadda first held a meeting with former chief minister Vasundhara Raje that lasted for around 15 minutes.
It was followed by a meeting with senior leaders in which constituencies and the party’s election strategy were discussed. Feedback on the four ‘Parivartan Yatras’ that the BJP held recently was also discussed.
Union minister and the party’s election in-charge for Rajasthan Pralhad Joshi, co-in-charge Nitin Patel, BJP’s in-charge for Rajasthan Arun Singh, state unit president C P Joshi, Union Ministers Gajendra Singh, Arjun Meghwal, Kailash Chaudhary, leader of opposition in Assembly Rajendra Rathore, deputy leader of opposition Satish Poonia and other leaders were present at the meeting, the sources said.
The meeting continued for around three hours. Poonia and MP Rajyavardhan Rathore were the first to leave the venue after the first round. Nadda and Shah held the next round of meeting with the BJP’s national general secretary (organisation) B L Santosh, Union minister Pralhad Joshi, Nitin Patel, Arun Singh, Kuldeep Vishnoi and Vijaya Rahatkar, among others, the party sources said.
“The leaders held discussions on the assembly constituencies and brainstormed on ways to win the maximum number of seats in Mewar, Vagad, Shekhawati, Hadauti and Marwar regions and in eastern Rajasthan in the assembly and Lok Sabha elections,” a source said.
“In the meeting, a clear message was sent out that the party organisation is supreme and all have to work together to ensure victory of the party in the elections.” Some leaders said that ticket distribution and other poll-related issues were discussed in the meeting.
Sources in the BJP’s Rajasthan unit said Union Jal Shakti minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat and Law Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal may be fielded in the assembly polls, along with some other MPs.
However, the party leaders who came out of the hotel refrained from sharing details of the meeting with the media. Convener of the election management committee Narayan Panchariya said the party’s authorised person will share details of the meeting with the media. Nadda and Shah will meet local RSS leaders on Thursday morning, party sources said. There is speculation that senior RSS pracharak Prakash Chand may be given certain responsibilities in the upcoming Assembly election.
(This story has not been edited by News18 staff and is published from a syndicated news agency feed – PTI)
