Rajasthan BJP leader wants change in state leadership, awaits Shah's response

Amit Shah

A local BJP leader in Rajasthan, who petitioned party President Amit Shah to change the state leadership if the party wanted to retain power in the state, says he is awaiting for a response to his letter. Ashok Choudhary, the head of the Bharatiya Janata Party's Kota district OBC wing, who came under media spotlight last week after his letter to Amit Shah requesting for leadership change in Rajasthan BJP, told IANS that he was eagerly awaiting for a call from BJP's top leadership.

"I cannot expect justice from Jaipur team but I have all my hopes stuck to the Delhi BJP team," he said. "There was a meeting called in the BJP state headquarters recently where this issue of leadership crisis was apparently discussed. I think the team is busy finding out a middle way to ensure we emerge winners in the ensuing elections," he claimed. Terming the situation in Rajasthan "grim", Choudhary said that a party worker goes to an MLA with their problems and the MLA goes to an MP but no one has any solution to the problem.

"They (the workers) return empty-handed after listening to the same answer that our hands are tied up and we are unable to take it further," he said. He reiterated that if elections were contested under Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje and state unit Ashok Parnami, the BJP will lose in the 2018 Assembly elections as well as in 2019 general elections. Choudhary also attributed the BJP's defeat in the recent by-polls to party infighting.

"The workers were demotivated; they didn't work, they didn't go to appeal to voters. Cross voting was too much... All this has led to a debacle for the party. "Workers are not slaves, they are hardworking hands who have elevated party to such height. Hence it comes as a myth when someone says that this worker is of a lower rank or XYZ is a worker of a high cadre. This ranking hardly makes a difference in politics. "We still have time to learn from our mistakes from this election, there is a time to end the culture of slavery and bossism from state politics," he added.

Parnami could not be contacted for his comments to Choudhary's allegations. The BJP lost two Lok Sabha seats and one Assembly seat in the recent by-polls in Rajasthan, the results of which were declared on February 1. Choudhary wrote to Shah the next day, saying: "The people of the state are not happy with Chief Minister Vasundhra Raje's style of functioning. The party workers are losing confidence due to her working style."

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