Rift in Rajasthan BJP over bypoll defeat

JAIPUR: The drubbing in the recently-held bye-elections has exposed cracks within Rajasthan BJP, with murmurs of dissent growing louder with each passing day. Amid damage control exercise by the state leadership, a blame-game has begun between MLA Gyan Dev Ahuja and cabinet minister Jaswant Singh, who lost Alwar bye-election, over the party’s poor show.
An audio clip, in which Ramgarh MLA Ahuja is heard speaking to one of his supporters over phone after the party’s defeat, went viral on Sunday.“Yeh to Sarkar hari hai, hum thode hi hare hai (This is the government that has lost, not us),” he is heard saying in the audio. Calling chief minister Vasundhra Raje, state party president Ashok Parnami and Alwar candidate Jaswant Singh Yadav “badnam” (infamous), he had demanded change of guard in Rajasthan party.
“This was bound to happen. I had predicted that we would be routed in the byeelections. If Raje and Parnami are not replaced, then BJP will suffer miserably in Rajasthan,” he had said.
In response, the minister on Tuesday said that neither the government nor the candidate had lost. “We failed to read public sentiment. I do not know what Ahuja said. But as a doctor, I can say that a person who makes a remark which does not help him or his party needs psychiatric treatment,” Yadav had told reporters in Alwar.
On Wednesday, Ahuja retorted by calling Yadav a “mental”. Ahuja reiterated that Yadav was responsible for the party’s defeat in Alwar. The allegations and counter-allegations have caused much embarrassment to the ruling BJP. The party leadership has decided to initiate disciplinary action against Ahuja.