Seven MPs, no CM face: Will BJP's shifted strategic move in Rajasthan prove to be a masterstroke?

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is out on the political battleground with a surprisingly improvised strategy to tackle the opposition parties for the final round before the 2024 Lok Sabha polls. To ensure a certain landing on the majority mark, the party’s strategists have decided to field its prominent sitting MPs in the Rajasthan Assembly polls in line with Madhya Pradesh.

The Saffron Party on Monday released the first list of 41 candidates for the Rajasthan Assembly elections. Surprisingly, seven names in the list out of the 41 candidates are of the sitting Parliamentarians, which appears to be an all-out bid from the party to win power in the state ahead of the general elections next year. Among these seven MPs, five will contest elections from the seats falling under their own Parliamentary constituency. Surprisingly, 40 of these 41 assembly constituencies, where the BJP has announced candidates, don't have its MLAs.

Rajasthan's 48 assembly seats lies under 6 Lok Sabha constituency held by BJP

Amid the political parties’ relay to take over each other in the state assembly battle, BJP’s strategy to hit the track with seven sitting MPs is being widely talked about in the political arena. While some consider the move as the party's masterstroke, the opposition terms it party’s fear of defeat in the state.

Six out of the 7 BJP MPs, who are the members of Lok Sabha, hold 48 Rajasthan assembly constituencies under them. Now with the new strategic move, the party appears to be determined to expand its footprint and secure a strong presence in the polls.  

In the last assembly polls, which took place in the year 2018, the BJP had managed to secure a win on 73 seats out of 200 seats, while the Congress had emerged winner with a win on 99 seats. Rajasthan will go to polls on November 23 and the counting of the votes will take place on December 3.

MPs to contest Assembly polls

The seven MPs, who are named in the first list of candidates for the Rajasthan Assembly polls includes the name of former-Union Minister Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore, the current member of Lok Sabha representing the Jaipur Rural constituency. He will be contesting Assembly polls from Jhotwara seat. Apart from Rathore, other sitting MPs, who will be contesting the assembly polls includes the names of Rajsamand MP Diya Kumari, who will contest from Vidhyadhar Nagar, Ajmer MP Bhagirath Choudhary, who will contest from Kishangarh, Rajya Sabha MP Kirodi Lal Meena, who will be contesting from the Sawai Madhopur seat, Jalore MP Devji Patel, who will battle on the Sanchore seat, Alwar MP Baba Balaknath, who will be contesting from Tijara seat and Jhunjhunu MP Narendra Kumar, who is the party’s candidate from the Mandawa seat.

Political analysis

Political experts have termed BJP’s first list of candidates for Rajasthan as a clever strategy of caste mathematics. Apart from Vidhyadhar Nagar, rest of the six assembly constituencies are held by the non-BJP MLAs. While one seat is held by an independent MLA, the other five seats have Congress legislators.

Experts believe that with the entry of these giant BJP players on the Congress-dominated seats, the political fervor is likely to be affected not only on these constituencies, but the constituencies lying nearby.

Diya Kumari, representing the Rajsamand Lok Sabha constituency at present, will be replacing BJP’s sitting MLA Narpat Singh Rajvi, the son-in-law of BJP’s stalwart and former-Vice President Bhairon Singh Shekhawat. She is the former princess of the Jaipur Royal Family and the granddaughter of Man Singh II, the last ruling Maharaja of the princely state.

Projecting Diya Kumari as a candidate in the state assembly elections, the BJP is not only stepping up to set the voters' mood in the party’s favour but is also expecting to get a prominent face for the chief ministerial post, if the party gains the majority.

Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore, a retired Army official, an Olympic medallist and former-Union Minister, is expected to mark his presence for the party not only on his seat, but is also expected to impact the assembly seats lying around. He will be challenging Congress MLA from the Jhotwara constituency.

MP Kirodi Lal Meena has been pulled onto the stage from the assembly constituency, which has crucial dominance of the Meena community, which is considered as a key vote bank in Rajasthan. With his entry in the frame, the BJP is expecting a lead support in the community.

Multiple faces for chief minister

Though Prime Minister Narendra Modi gave a clear hint that the BJP will not be projecting any chief ministerial candidate, the party’s decision to bring sitting MPs into the assembly contest eventually provides the party with multiple choices including former-CM Vasundhara Raje, if voted to power.

The Rajasthan Assembly contest is taking an interesting shape for the BJP compared to the ruling party Congress, which has put up a united front in the contest. Moreover, the infighting in the party continues to be heckling the party’s claims of clinching the victory again. In addition to it, the anti-incumbency factor against the Congress is also an important factor.