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Journalism of Courage
Rajasthan was one of the major states along with Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra where the BJP slipped in the Lok Sabha elections, losing 11 of the 25 seats and seeing its tally drop to 14, and solidifying the perception of a revived Congress on the rise again. For first-time Chief Minister Bhajan Lal Sharma, it was a trial by fire as the party’s poor showing was linked to his government’s performance.
This was the picture as of September: the social security pension of 90 lakh beneficiaries had been stuck for over three months, more than two lakh jobless youths had been waiting for their allowance, and exports from Rajasthan had contracted 38% in the April–June quarter. Then there was the uncertainty over the resignation of state Cabinet minister Kirodi Lal Meena, who had been sulking. All this contributed to the widespread perception in Rajasthan’s political circles that the BJP’s central leadership and bureaucrats were running the show and not the novice CM, a first-time MLA. This sparked a buzz in the state about Sharma being replaced midway through his term, making way for a more seasoned administrator.
But in politics optics can change overnight and after the recent bypolls, in which the BJP won five of the seven Assembly seats at stake, Sharma’s fortunes seem to have turned for the better and brought a spring to the CM’s stride.
What has added to the current upbeat mood is that the results not only marked a turnaround compared to the Lok Sabha elections but also an improvement on last year’s Assembly elections. In 2023, the Congress won four of these seats — Jhunjhunu, Ramgarh, Dausa, and Deoli-Uniara — while its ally Hanuman Beniwal of the Rashtriya Loktantrik Party (RLP) won Khinwsar. The Bharat Adivasi Party (BAP) won the sixth seat, Chorasi while the BJP won only Salumber. This time, it retained Salumber and won four other seats, raising its tally from one to five, while the Congress’s fell from four to one.
Sharma and the state BJP can also take heart from the fact that two leaders who have been a thorn in their sides, Beniwal and their own Kirodi Lal Meena, suffered setbacks. Meena’s brother Jagmohan lost from Dausa, dealing a blow to the disgruntled BJP leader who had lobbied intensively for a ticket for his brother. After the loss, Meena insinuated that party insiders were responsible for his brother’s defeat.
Another shot in the arm for the BJP was the poll loss of Beniwal’s wife Kanika who lost from Khinwsar, the seat that the RLP leader vacated after being elected to the Lok Sabha from Nagaur. Beniwal was with the BJP-led NDA in the 2019 polls but quit the alliance the following year during protests against the now-repealed three Central farm laws.
The biggest gain for Sharma and the BJP is a weakened Congress, which was buoyed by the Lok Sabha results after years of internal feuds between the Ashok Gehlot and Sachin Pilot camps. As the Opposition party’s graph started rising, months after losing the Assembly polls, the perception grew that not just Dalits and Adivasis but Jats too were unhappy with the BJP. The party has its task cut out, with its top priorities likely to be setting its house in order and looking for a sound strategy to deflate the Bhajan Lal Sharma government’s new-found optimism.
“This win is a boost for the Chief Minister because it has also silenced critics and all other tall leaders of the state BJP such as Vasundhara Raje, Rajendra Rathore, and Gajendra Singh who were being seen as probables for the CM post had Sharma, seen as a greenhorn, been eased out,” said a state government insider who did not wish to be named.
For the CM, some of the high-profile events that are coming up provide an opportunity to bask in the afterglow of a successful bypoll campaign. Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit Rajasthan twice this month within a week, first in Jaipur on December 9 to inaugurate the Rising Rajasthan Summit and on December 15 to attend the first anniversary of the Sharma government. The second event was scheduled after the win in the bypolls.
