Former Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje is pulling out all stops to garner the support of the Gurjjar community in the state in the run-up to the Lok Sabha elections,in particular for her son Dushyant in the Jhalawar-Baran constituency. Just days after announcing Gurjjar leader Colonel Kirori Singh Bainsla as a candidate in the LS elections,Raje on Monday managed to convince another powerful Gurjjar leader and her fiercest critic till date,Prahlad Gunjal,who was expelled from the BJP in 2007 for his involvement in the Gurjjar agitation,back into the BJP fold. Raje visited Gunjals house in Kota on Monday to cement relations between the BJP and him. He has expressed his wish to re-join the party and we have resolved our differences. Gunjal has agreed to work for the BJP during the LS election campaign, Raje said in Kota on Monday. She added that he would start work for the BJP as soon as possible. Speaking to The Indian Express,Gunjal said,Ms Raje visited me on Monday and we decided to let go of what happened between the BJP and me in the past. Incidentally,Gunjal had requested a Congress ticket from the Kota constituency a month back,and claimed the Congress had cheated him by not giving him a ticket. The CM had promised me a ticket but they cheated me. And even before joining the BJP,I had begun campaigning against the Congress in Kota. Now I am back home where I belong,with the BJP, Gunjal said. In his speeches following his expulsion from the BJP in 2007,Gunjal had called Raje a devil while Colonel Bainsla was referred to as a political puppet. When asked if he would share the dais with Bainsla,Gunjal only said,I would not like to comment about this at this moment. With Gunjals decision,Raje has managed to bring together two of the three Gurjjar factions. The Gurjjar community had split into three groups in the run-up to the Assembly elections,with Bainsla,Gunjal and the Congress. Meanwhile,though Gunjals entry into the BJP has the Congress worried,particularly in Gurjjar-majority constituencies,the party maintained it was a sign that the BJP was worried. A Congress leader said,it is obvious that Rajes son Dushyant faces stiff competition in Jhalawar,which includes a fair share of Gurjjar voters. This is the only reason the BJP has taken Bainsla and Gunjal back into the party. BJP Kota district president,Manmohan Joshi,who was present at the meeting between Gunjal and Raje,said Gunjal would begin work for the BJP from Tuesday.
