In a stunning turnaround, the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), eyeing a hat-trick of clean sweeps in all 25 Lok Sabha seats was trounced in 11 seats, barely six months after regaining power in Rajasthan. This marks a huge comeback for the Congress which had failed to win a single seat in the last two Lok Sabha elections in the desert state. Political circles are now buzzing over time about what caused this rude jolt to the Saffron brigade and whether this significant setback could trigger a major upheaval in the Rajasthan BJP. Many are also wondering how these results will impact the future of Chief Minister (CM) Bhajan Lal Sharma.
In looking for the reasons which ensured a Congress resurgence in this bipolar state, the dissensions in the Rajasthan BJP must rank at the top. For years, the state BJP has been deeply divided between the RSS lobby that now calls the shots and loyalists of former CM Vasundhara Raje. Though it won the last Assembly elections, the BJP made no serious effort to bridge the internal frictions.
The infighting was so severe that two months ago, even Union Cabinet Minister, Gajendra Singh Shekhawat openly lamented that BJP MLAs in his area were hardly helping his campaign. Inevitably, the infighting within the Saffron camp led to poor candidate selection.