Madhya Pradesh chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan had last month cancelled massive celebrations planned to mark his 10 years in office. It was reported that the idea was dropped after Mr Chouhan was ticked off by Prime Minister Narendra Modi for hosting celebrations during an agrarian crisis in the state.
Now Rajasthan CM Vasundhara Raje is to celebrate two years in office in grand style. BJP president Amit Shah and many Union ministers are expected to attend the bash on December 13.
Notwithstanding criticism from the Opposition as well as within the party, a mammoth rally has been planned at Janpath, right in front of the Vidhan Sabha, Ms Raje’s favourite place for special occasions. It is here that she had taken the oath of office twice, the anniversary celebrations of her government are being held here and just last month a huge cultural show was organised for guests who came to attend the “Resurgent Rajasthan” event.
Over three lakh party workers are expected to attend the rally and everyone from ministers in her government to MLAs and party office-bearers have been assigned tasks to arrange crowds for the rally.
The Congress has criticised the proposed celebrations, saying it would be a waste of government funds.
“The government has made a programme to ferry their party workers from all over the state to Jaipur for the anniversary programme, which is not only unethical but a betrayal of the people. Public money should not be spent on party workers. We will lodge a strong protest on December 12,” PCC president Sachin Pilot said.
Former Rajasthan CM Ashok Gehlot also termed the expenditure “extravagant” and accused it of getting into the habit of frivolous spending.
While criticism from the Opposition can be dismissed as more of the usual, what should embarrass the party is questions raised by former spokesperson Kailash Nath Bhatt whose post on his Facebook wall asks if it would be appropriate to celebrate the anniversary when a large part of the country has experienced excess rains and should the money not be sent to help flood victims instead.
Mr Bhatt, who had to resign due to a similar controversial post in which he had taken a dig at RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat over Z-plus security, asked: “Are promises for five years fulfilled in just two years, and are the public and 75 lakh party workers in the mood to celebrate ”
