BJP to bank on PM Modi's charm to retain Rajasthan

New Delhi: Copying the successful Gujarat election model, the BJP plans to make Prime Minister Narendra Modi the party’s face during the Rajasthan Assembly elections later this year due to chief minister Vasundhara Raje’s rapidly declining popularity reflected in the 3-0 loss to the Congress in recently held bypolls.

Just like in the Gujarat polls last year, the BJP intends to push the chief minister into the background while Mr Modi leads the charge.

With only about nine months to go for the Assembly elections, saffron spin doctors are against replacing Ms Raje as the chief minister, fearing a split in the party. The BJP has 160 members in the 200-member Assembly and the Congress has 24.

The BJP’s debacle in the bypolls gave ammunition to disgruntled party MP from Patna Sahib, Shatrughan Sinha, who said that the state has become the first to give the BJP “triple talaq”.

Sidelined within the party, Mr Sinha also took a jibe in a tweet,”Better late than never, otherwise the disastrous results could or would be soon reformed as Tata-Bye-Bye results. Wake up BJP.”

The BJP lost the Ajmer and Alwar parliamentary seats and Mandalgarh Assembly seat to the Congress in the bypolls, which were being seen as the “semi-final” before the Assembly polls.

Reacting to Mr Sinha’s statements, Union minister Babul Supriyo asked him to “give triple talaq and leave BJP” before he is asked to be “khamosh (be silent)” — an allusion to the Patna Sahib MP’s trademark word in Bollywood films.

“I will say to Shatrughan Sinha, if you hate it so much, why do you keep coming to Parliament? Why do you create such a situation that others have to say ‘khamosh’? Locker-room talk should not be discussed outside. Give triple talaq and leave BJP,” Mr Supriyo said.

Mr Sinha also took on the party leadership over the Union Budget 2018-19 and tweeted, that “When the hurly burly of Budget shall be over and the Aam Aadmi realises that he has been promised the unachievable moon, Rajasthan shall state that Aam Aadmi has started to speak clearly. Time to retrospect, isn’t it? Let’s shed our arrogance and wake up! Jai Hind.”

The Patna Sahib MP has on various occasions shared views on issues which are against the party line. He recently said that he was treated like a “stepson” in his own party and that he felt “stifled.”

Mr Sinha recently shared a platform with former Union finance minister Yashwant Sinha, who launched a “non political” forum to raise important national issues. However, the forum is seen by many as Mr Sinha’s effort to criticise the Modi government. Many Opposition party leaders were present at the launch of the forum earlier this week. The former finance minister has been critical of the government policies, mainly those related to the farming sector.