Vasundhara Raje eyes pre-poll populist makeover

Jaipur: With an eye on 2018 Assembly elections, Rajasthan chief minister Vasundhara Raje is busy doing an image makeover. Having earned accolades for vigorously pushing reforms for first three years of her government, the CM is now keen to play to the gallery.

From January 21, state urban bodies were to hold “Shahri Jan Kalyan Shivir” to regularise illegal colonies and encroachments after the state Cabinet cleared a proposal to this effect. Residential colonies set up on agriculture land prior to 1999, as well as on pasture land, were to be regularised. What’s more, the government even allowed shops in residence and commercial activities on roads less than 30 feet wide.

Unfortunately, for Ms Raje, this populist move, which was brazen violation of master plan of cities, was stalled by the Rajasthan high court, following which the government had to cancel regularisation camps. This move would have helped Ms Raje earn votes is doubtful as her predecessor Ashok Gehlot had done a similar thing, but lost miserably. It certainly has dented her image as she is known to be someone who cares for aesthetics and urban planning.

Ms Raje’s another gift though was well received. Last month, she launched “Annapurna Rasoi”, to provide good quality and healthy food to common man at concessional rates. The scheme initially launched in 12 cities. Although, former Tamil Nadu CM J. Jayalalitha is credited with this idea, the fact is that this is actually a refined version of a scheme called “Akshya Kaleva” during her previous tenure.