Shah, Nadda In Rajasthan To Discuss Elections; Buzz Over Fielding Union Ministers

The BJP’s top brass, Union Home Minister Amit Shah and party chief J P Nadda, arrived in Jaipur on Wednesday evening to strategize with the Rajasthan unit for the upcoming assembly elections.

Jaipur: Union Home Minister Amit Shah and BJP president J P Nadda reached here Wednesday evening to discuss the upcoming assembly elections with the party’s Rajasthan leadership, amid a buzz that two central ministers might be asked to contest. The speculation follows the party’s decision to name three Union ministers and four other MPs in its second list of candidates in Madhya Pradesh, another state where assembly polls are due in the coming months.

Rajasthan party sources 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. The two were scheduled to take part in a BJP state core committee at a hotel later in the evening. Party leaders said ticket distribution and other the poll-related issues were to be discussed there.

They would also discuss the feedback received from the four “parivartan yatras” held in the state by the BJP. They will meet local RSS leaders on Thursday, party sources said. Former chief minister Vasundhara Raje, BJP state president C P Joshi and other leaders welcomed Shah and Nadda when they arrived at the Jaipur airport.

The visit by Shah and Nadda follows a rally near Jaipur addressed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday to mark the completion of the “yatras” that touched all 200 assembly constituencies in the state. The party is now planning events focusing on the youth, farmers and women.

Hours before the visit, a group of people from Ajmer South constituency staged a protest at the party office against Anita Bhadel, the MLA from there. “There is resentment among party workers against the MLA and she should not be given the ticket for the coming assembly elections,” Shravan Kumar, a protester, told reporters.