Rajasthan: BJP bigwigs mulling to switch seats ahead of polls, party says not their call

BJP ministers and legislators in Rajasthan are a worried lot as they face two problems that could affect their future political career. Not only do they have to deal with anti-incumbency; the possibility that the party might not repeat a large number of sitting MLAs has added to their worries. They now seek a solution that would solve both the problems.

A large number of senior ministers are mulling shifting from their present seats to ones that would prove more conducive in terms of caste equations and winnability. They are hoping that the move will resolve both their problems at one go. Moving to a new constituency will rid them of the anti-incumbency against local legislator and they hope to make the party consider their shift as its strategy of ‘not repeating local sitting MLA’.

Even high profile ministers are keen to move from their constituencies. Some are Panchayat Raj minister Rajendra Rathore, social welfare minister Arun Chaturvedi, public works department minister Yunus Khan, labour minister Dr Jaswant Yadav, agriculture minister Prabhulal Saini, industry minister Rajpal Singh Shekhawat, forest minister Gajendra Khimsar and urban development housing minister Shrichand Kriplani.

Other stalwarts who wish to shift are assembly speaker Kailash Meghwal, deputy speaker Rao Rajendra Singh and chief whip in assembly Kalulal Gurjar.

According to a minister who did not wish to be named, “I have been regularly touring and exploring options in the constituencies that I hope to shift to. As they are new areas building a personal network is my priority.”

When asked about this state BJP chief Madan Lal Saini said to DNA, “In BJP these decisions do not depend on the individual. We have a parliamentary board that decides on who will contest from which seats. And those decisions are taken in the interest of the party.Who will shift seats depends on the internal democratic process within the party.”

What makes their entire exercise of seeking safe seats more interesting is that the seats the high profile leaders hope to shift to; are in most cases; already occupied by BJP MLAs.

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