Forced to resign for his comment on RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat, the senior BJP leader and former spokesperson of the party, Kailash Nath Bhatt, has once again stirred up a hornet’s nest by criticising some recent decisions of the Vasundhara Raje government.
Known for his outspoken ways, Mr Bhatt has written on his Facebook wall that things have not been going well in Jaipur. “Jaipur mai sab kuch theek nahi chal raha hai,” he said while reacting to the way Jaipur Development Authority (JDA) sealed three hotel gates, including the main entrance to the royal family’s Raj Mahal Palace at the posh C-scheme location near BJP headquarters, despite protests by the BJP MLA and member of the royal family, Diya Kumari, and her lawyers who produced court documents to claim ownership of the land.
“We should have been proud that Maharaja Man Singh was the first one to give up his monarchy. If Jaipur royal family had some government land in its possession, was it not possible to resolve the matter through negotiations Was this entire fuss necessary ” he asked, calling the JDA’s actions inappropriate.
The former BJP spokesperson also criticised his party’s government for demolition of temples coming in way of metro project; cow deaths in Hingonia Goshala; sealing small private hospitals in colonies, and high handedness in booking young drivers for traffic violations.
According to him, the traffic policemen are focusing only on extorting money from young drivers to “illegally” collect revenue for the government rather than ensuring traffic rules.
The former BJP spokesperson also accused the JDA of allowing illegal construction of multi-storey buildings all over Jaipur.
Bhatt’s outburst is significant as he is considered close to BJP’s national vice president Om Mathur who is himself a close confidant of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the party chief, Amit Shah. Earlier, he had questioned Raje government’s second anniversary celebrations last December.
Apart from Bhatt, sitting MLA and former minister Ghanshyam Tiwari too has taken his pot shots on chief minister and her government over corruption and autocratic ways.
