Rajasthan Assembly polls
KOTA, Oct 18: BJP president J P Nadda arrived here in Rajasthan on Wednesday to hold meetings with the party office-bearers from the Kota division ahead of the November 25 state Assembly polls.
Nadda was received at the Kota airport by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders and members of the party’s Mahila Morcha. From the airport, Nadda went to a hotel where his first meeting with the party office-bearers from Kota and Bundi districts is underway.
In the second round of deliberations, the BJP president will meet the office-bearers from Baran and Jhalawar.
State BJP in-charge Arun Singh, the party’s state unit chief C P Joshi, local MLAs and district presidents are present at the meeting.
Sources in the party said discussions on all 17 Assembly seats in the Hadoti region, comprising the Kota division, will be held. Issues related to the organisation will also be discussed at the meeting.
In the evening, Nadda will go to Kishangarh in Ajmer to hold a meeting with the party office-bearers from Ajmer.
The four districts in the Kota division are among the 13 covered under the Eastern Rajasthan Canal Project (ERCP). The ruling Congress in Rajasthan has been demanding the status of a national project for the ERCP from the Centre.
Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge launched a public awareness campaign on the issue from Baran district on Monday.
The ERCP is an ambitious project that will help augment the irrigation facilities in an area of around two lakh hectares and address the drinking water problems of 13 districts in eastern Rajasthan, including the Kota division.
Besides, former chief minister and senior BJP leader Vasundhara Raje’s Assembly constituency, Jhalrapatan (Jhalawar), also falls in this division.
The BJP is yet to give any clarity regarding Raje’s role in the upcoming polls. Raje is considered to be among the frontrunners for the chief minister’s post. However, the BJP has made it clear that the face of the party in the upcoming election will be Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the party symbol, “lotus”.
Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla is also from Kota. He represents the Kota-Bundi parliamentary constituency, while Raje’s son, Dushyant Singh, is the Lok Sabha MP from Jhalawar-Baran.
Three ministers in the Ashok Gehlot-led state government — Shanti Dhariwal (Kota), Pramod Jain Bhaya (Baran) and Ashok Chandna (Bundi) — are also from the Kota division.
Nadda’s visit is significant due to all these factors.
Polling for the 200-member Rajasthan Assembly will be held on November 25 and the counting of votes will be taken up on December 3.
The BJP, which is looking to wrest power from the Congress in the desert state, has so far announced candidates for 41 seats. No candidate for the Kota division has so far been announced.
The division is considered a saffron bastion, with the party having 10 of the 17 MLAs, besides both the MPs from here. (PTI)
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