Recently, Bhartiya Janta Party in Rajasthan suspended 11 senior leaders. These senior leaders included four ministers in Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje’s cabinet. The action has been taken by the party, as the leaders were refusing to withdraw their nominations AFTER the party has picked alternative candidates for the upcoming Rajasthan assembly elections.
On Thursday, Rajasthan BJP issued a press release according to which 11 rebels have been dropped from the party’s primary membership for six years. These 11 rebels were identified as Surendra Goyal, Lakshminarayan Dave, Radheshyam Ganganagar, Hemsingh Bhadana, Rajkumar Rinava, Rameshwar Bhati, Kuldeep Dhankad, Deendayal Kumavat, Kishanram Nai, Dhansingh Rawat, and Anita Katara.
However, there were many rebels from the party that filed their name for the upcoming assembly polls in the state on December 7, and a large number of MLAs even resigned after they were dropped from the party.
Manvendra Singh, rebel BJP lawmaker-turned-Congress candidate, is even facing off against Ms Raje in the Jhalarapathan assembly seat. The relations between the BJP leadership and Mr Singh had soured after his father, former Union Minister Jaswant Singh, was denied a ticket for the 2014 Lok Sabha polls.
On the other hand, apart from BJP facing rebel problem in the state, the Congress has 40 rebel leaders which include four former ministers and there is a possible chance that they could spoil its chances of electoral victory.
The ruling party, which has again declared Vasundhara Raje as its chief ministerial candidate for Rajasthan, is putting up a confident face. While campaigning in the state last week, party chief Amit Shah said: “The results in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, and Chhattisgarh will set the trend for the 2019 Lok Sabha polls. The BJP’s victory in 2019 will pave the way for the party to rule for the next 50 years.”
