Team Vasundhara Raje goes into huddle amid adverse exit polls

Jaipur: Forty-eight hours ahead of the election results, the core group of Rajasthan BJP including chief minister Vasundhara Raje, state chief Madan Lal Saini, Union ministers Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, Arun Ram Meghwal and national vice-president Om Mathur went into a huddle to review the political situation and devise strategy for the state government’s second term. The huddle was followed by a top-level meeting of senior leaders with Amit Shah at BJP headquarters in New Delhi.

“BJP is forming the government. There is no doubt about it. We are coming back with absolute majority,” said Raje, confident about her comeback.

The core group reviewed party’s seat-wise position and assessed various possibilities for a comeback.


It also decided to depute senior leaders to every district headquarters on the counting day (Tuesday) to keep a tight vigil on the counting process. The group also discussed the winning possibilities of rebels of both Congress and BJP who are in contention after being denied the party symbol.

“We had a seat wise analysis. We are in touch with rebels who are in winning condition. But we don’t think their support will be needed as we are getting absolute majority,” said Union minister for state for agriculture Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, who is also the coordinator of state election committee.

The party also discussed the strategy for the 2019 parliamentary elections.

“Our party believes in advance planning. All our senior leaders shared their experience. Keeping in mind the shortcomings and good practices in assembly election campaign, we discussed about the probable strategy for 2019 elections also,“ he said.

The polling for Rajasthan was held on December 7 and the results will be declared on Tuesday along with four other states: Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Mizoram and Telangana.

Many political analysts believe that rebels on either side may spoil the party resulting in a hung assembly.

“Both parties are keeping an eye on rebels who are in a winning position.

On at least 45 seats, contest was triangular with a stronger rebel candidate in the fray. If that happens, that party will form government which shows more flexibility and proactiveness,” said Rameshwar Pareek, a political analyst.