BJP to win 2023 Rajasthan Assembly polls with thumping majority: Shekhawat

Union minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat on Saturday claimed that the results of the recent bypolls in Rajasthan will have no bearing on the 2023 Assembly elections and the BJP will come to power in the state with a "thumping majority".

Reacting to the party's defeat in recently held by-elections on two seats in Rajasthan, Shekhatwat said the results of the bypolls should not be seen as a mirror of the main assembly election.

"The political parties which are out of power need not be disappointed and those in power need not be happy," he told reporters during his Sikar visit on Saturday.


Shekhawat, who is a BJP MP from Jodhpur in Rajasthan, said by-elections are fought under different circumstances and claimed that the results will have no impact on the assembly elections after two years.

Targeting the Ashok Gehlot government, the Union Jal Shakti minister said the "people of the state are sad and upset and feel betrayed".

The ruling Congress in Rajasthan won the by-elections to Vallabhnagar (Udaipur) and Dhariawad (Pratapgarh) assembly seats in the state.

Shekhawat also hit out at the state Congress government for not reducing VAT on petrol and diesel.

Rajasthan Chief Minister Gehlot had on Tuesday said his government will reduce VAT on fuel like other states, hours after he urged the Centre to further slash excise duty and cited fund crunch caused by the Covid pandemic.

The Centre on November 3 slashed excise duty on petrol by Rs 5 per litre and on diesel by Rs 10 a litre to give reprieve to consumers battered by record-high retail fuel prices.