BJP plans to take on Gehlot Govt over all-round failure’

JAIPUR, JANUARY 5: The opposition BJP in the state, under pressure from its rank and file to adopt an aggressive posture towards the Congr...

JAIPUR, JANUARY 5: The opposition BJP in the state, under pressure from its rank and file to adopt an aggressive posture towards the Congress government in Rajasthan, has decided to launch an agitation against the “all-round failure of the government”.

This was announced by party’s national vice-president Ram Dass Aggarwal here on Monday. Buoyed by the pro-BJP wave in the state, the party hopes to make gains in the panchayat elections to be held here shortly. The date for the agitation against the government would hence be announced only after the election schedule is declared, according to Aggarwal.

He said the proposed stir would include demonstrations at all 237 panchayat samiti headquarters and a massive protest in Jaipur. State BJP president Gulab Chand Kataria was present during the announcement.

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Hitting out at the state government, the BJP leader said the economy was in a shambles, several districts had been hit by a famine, animals were starving and a power crisis had added to the troubles ofthe farmers. The partymen in the state had mounted pressure on the BJP leadership to take on the Gehlot government to cash in on the popular mood. At the Rajasthan BJP executive meeting here on Sunday, several members had charged the state leadership with being soft towards the government.

According to sources, former minister Sanwar Mal Jat observed at the meeting that the party’s silence on the difficulties faced by the people, the farmers in particular, was beyond comprehension. He wondered why BJP was shying away from playing the role of Opposition by highlighting the government’s failures. The government’s failure to start programmes to generate employment in rural areas also deserved to be highlighted, he said.

Another former minister, Rajendra Singh Rathore, pointed out that the BJP ought to have taken up in a big way the incidents in Geejgarh, where a 16-year-old Dalit girl was allegedly raped, and Phalodi where Rajasthan Shiv Sena president Murlidhar Bohra was murdered. He said the BJP was ableto save its face only because some of its leaders visited the areas.

Party president Kataria said that the party was aware of the matter and a plan to begin and agitation was on the anvil. The meeting was attended by former chief minister Bhairon Singh Shekhawat, former deputy chief minister Hari Shankar Bhabhra and other senior leaders.