Vasundhara Raje to break away from BJP to form own party?

October 19, 2012

Jaipur, October 19: Even as BJP battles instability in its Karnataka unit along with former CM B S Yeddyurappa threatening to walk out, a bombshell seems to be waiting to explode for the party in Rajasthan, with Vasundhara Raje on the verge of revolting against party's central leadership.

Raje, former Rajasthan CM and currently the leader of opposition in the state assembly, is considering to walk away with a big chunk of "loyalists" to float her own regional party before assembly polls in the state — due in December next year — if the leadership does not recognize her pre-eminence in the state unit. Raje has demanded a say in the appointment of state chief, and an upper hand in the distribution of party tickets for the assembly polls.

Raje is widely acknowledged to be the only leader in the BJP with a pan-state appeal: something which defies Rajasthan's reputation as a conservative state and has baffled political observers and sociologists alike. It is also recognized that sabotage was the chief reason why she failed to pull off a win in the last assembly election despite coming close to pulling off one in the face of anti-incumbency.

The grouse of Raje and her supporters is that the appreciation of her being the best bet for the party is not reflected in way central leadership has been conducting its affairs, insisting on a parity among the party between her and the "leaders who have no influence outside their assembly constituencies".

The indulgence of indiscipline has encouraged disproportionate ambitions, dealing a blow to the authority of the leadership. "Devi Singh Bhati (Kolayat MLA) has launched an independent campaign and challenged the party leadership to stop his campaign. Gulab Chand Kataria is already moving places. There is no discipline in the party and senior leaders are shy of projecting Vasundharaji as a party leader. That leaves her with no option but to think about options beyond BJP," said a Raje loyalist.

"Madam (Raje) was aghast at the national leaders' indifference towards her repeated demand for a free hand in the run-up to assembly polls in the state," BJP MLAs aligned with Raje told.

A leader from the Raje camp claimed that 70 out of the 79 MLA have expressed their support to Raje, and several other party leaders are also willing to follow suit.

While efforts to contact Raje proved futile, her trusted lieutenant and party chief whip in the state assembly, Rajendra Singh Rathore also refused to comment on the issue. "I have no information in this regard," he said.

Raje camp insiders said that they were in touch with a few independent legislators, including the six "turncoat" MLAs elected from the BSP who went on to join the Congress, providing a majority to the Ashok Gehlot government.

Raje is also said to be mulling over an alliance with the BSP as that will not only strengthen them in eastern Rajasthan but also fetch a sizeable number of Muslim votes.

The BSP did well in eastern Rajasthan during the 2008 assembly polls in the state as six MLAs were elected and several of its candidates finished runners-up.

The trouble in Rajasthan unit spells serious concern for the party. BJP is hoping for a good tally of Lok Sabha seats from the state, but the prospect could suffer a setback if Raje heeds her supporters to go her separate way.

Raje could be the latest addition to a long list of regional satraps of the BJP, who have had a falling out with the national leadership. Yeddyurappa is also toying with the idea of floating a regional party as the high command has refused to reinstate him as chief minister of Karnataka.

The party has still not recovered from the loss caused by the exit of Kalyan Singh in Uttar Pradesh and Babulal Marandi has emerged a strong regional force in Jharkhand after parting ways with the BJP.

The trend of satraps launching their own outfits is also seen as fallout of the vanishing Hindutva fervour and BJP's failure to find a replacement for the charismatic Atal Bihari Vajpayee.

After attending the recent assembly session in the state, Raje is camping in New Delhi. She met with several senior party leaders in the national capital to convince them about giving her a free hand to take final calls about the assembly polls. It was learnt that Raje also asked for state party chief Arun Chaturvedi to be substituted by a colleague of her choice, and rejection of the candidature of Gulab Chand Kataria, her detractor for the post.

Senior leaders have rejected her demands and suggested that they will let her lead the party but no "free hand" will be encouraged as unanimity ought to be maintained among senior state leaders on all major issues.

Kataria is a known Raje baiter and has already tried to open a parallel front as he planned a "rath yatra" against corruption in the beginning of this year. Raje vehemently opposed Kataria's proposed campaign and that latter had to cancel the plan.

Reports suggest that Kataria, this time around, has got support of other senior state leaders including Ghanshyam Tiwadi (deputy leader of opposition), Arun Chaturvedi (current state president), Lalit Chaturvedi and Narpat Singh Rajvi (son-in-law of Bhairon Singh Shekhawat). These leaders have reportedly maintained a concerted pressure on the BJP top brass to make sure that Raje was not allowed to "dictate" her will and that other leaders are also given the due consideration on party matters.

Moreover, a few senior leaders in New Delhi, who were rubbed the wrong way by Raje in the past, have extended tacit support to the anti-Raje camp.

Raje camp insiders claimed that the RSS office-bearers were also determined to make sure that Raje is not accorded "autonomy" like Narendra Modi. Recently Raje met with a few RSS functionaries in New Delhi and the latter assured support to her. However, the same RSS functionaries allowed Kataria to go ahead with his own scheme of things and strengthen his position in the state.

Comments

Add new comment

Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.

Never talked about charging migrant labourers; 85% fare borne by railways, 15% by state govts: Centre

Agencies

May 4,2020

New Delhi, May 4: The government has not talked about charging anything from migrant labourers as 85 per cent of the transportation cost is borne by the railways and 15 per cent by state governments, the Centre said on Monday amid a row over the national transporter allegedly charging the workers for ferrying them home during the COVID-19-induced lockdown.

The government also said the process of transporting the stranded migrant labourers was being coordinated by states “except for one or two states”.

Asked if the migrant labourers were being charged for being ferried home, Joint Secretary at the Health Ministry Lav Agarwal said that as far as migrant labourers are concerned, the guidelines have clearly stated that under the infectious disease management one should stay where he or she is.

“Based on the request given from states for particular cases, permission was given to run special trains. Be it government of India or the Railways, we have not talked about charging from workers. Eighty-five per cent of the transportation cost is borne by the Railways, while states have to bear 15 per cent of the cost,” he told reporters.

“Based on the request of the states the process that started, under which limited number of stranded migrant labourers have to be transported for a particular reason, is being coordinated by the state governments, except for one or two states,” Agarwal said.

At the daily briefing on the COVID-19 situation, Agarwal also said that in the last 24 hours, 1,074 COVID-19 patients have recovered, the highest number of recoveries in one day.

The recovery rate stands at 27.52 per cent with 11,706 COVID-19 patients cured till now, he said.

Agarwal said in the last 24 hours, 2,553 novel coronavirus cases were reported, taking the number of overall cases to 42,533. The total number of active cases stands at 29,453, he said.

The joint secretary also said that the COVID-19 curve is relatively flat as of now and it was not right to talk in terms of when the peak would come.

“If we collectively work then the peak might not ever come, while if we fail in any way we might experience a spike in cases,” he said.

Amitabh Kant, Chairman of the Empowered Group dealing with civil society, NGOs, industries and international partners, said in 112 aspirational districts, “we worked with the collectors and in these 112 districts only 610 cases have been reported which is two per cent of the national level infection”.

In these 112 districts, 22 per cent of India's population resides, he said.

In a few districts like Baramulla, Nuh Rachi, Kupwara and Jaisalmer more than 30 cases have been reported, while in the rest of the places very few cases are there, Kant said.

Comments

why is no one talking about privatized railways? why Adani is not offering free travel to laborers?

Add new comment

Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.

India sees highest single-day spike of 15,968 COVID-19 cases, tally reaches 4,56,183

News Network

June 24,2020

New Delhi, Jun 24: With the highest single-day spike of 15,968 cases and 465 deaths in the last 24 hours, India's COVID-19 count reached 4,56,183 on Wednesday.

According to the latest update by the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW), 14,476 deaths have been recorded due to the infection so far in the country.

The count includes 1,83,022 active cases, and 2,58,685 cured/discharged/migrated patients.

Maharashtra with 1,39,010 confirmed cases remains the worst-affected by the infection so far in the country. The state's count includes 62,848 active, 69,631 cured, discharged patients while 6,531 deaths have been reported due to the infection so far.

Meanwhile, the national capital's confirmed coronavirus cases reached 66,602.

2,301 deaths have been reported in Delhi due to the infection so far.

Tamil Nadu has reported 64,603 cases so far with the death toll reaching 833.

Comments

Add new comment

Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.

IT dept raids CM Gehlot’s confidants amid political crisis, congress cries foul

Agencies

July 13,2020

Jaipur, July 13: Amid a deepening political crisis in Rajasthan where the number 2 leader of the Congress party Sachin Pilot has revolted, over 200 Income Tax (I-T) sleuths raided the residences and properties of two of Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot’s close confidants.

The Income Tax department has carried out searches at over a dozen locations linked to Congress leader Dharamender Rathore as well as jewellery firm owner Rajiv Arora, both of whom are considered close to Gehlot.

Officials said that the raids that are underway in Jaipur, Kota, Delhi, and Mumbai were done after a complaint of tax evasion was made. Under the scanner, they said, are transactions that were made outside the country.

The curious timing of the Income Tax department’s action against Gehlot’s aides has made the Congress accuse the sleuths of acting on the behest of the BJP.

Congress spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala tweeted: “After all, BJP's lawyers came on the field. The Income Tax Department started raids in Jaipur. When will ED arrive?”

The Congress is facing a cliffhanger in Rajasthan after the open rebellion by deputy chief minister Sachin Pilot, who on Sunday night claimed that he had the support of 30 MLAs and that Gehlot was leading a minority government in the state.

However, Congress leader Avinash Pande on Monday said 109 MLAs have signed a letter of support to the chief minister, well above the majority mark of 100. The party has issued a whip to all the MLAs, asking them to attend the Congress Legislature Party meeting at 10.30 am.

Comments