CROWN LOOKS FOR HEAD

THE BJP'S FAILURE TO NAME ITS CM FACE AHEAD OF THE ASSEMBLY POLLS IN RAJASTHAN HAS LED TO CONFUSION AMONG THE PARTY CADRE

- Rohit Parihar

It will be his tenth trip to Rajasthan in as many months. But when Prime Minister Narendra Modi addresses a rally in Jaipur on September 25, as he is expected to, nearly two months would have elapsed since his previous touchdown. It was on July 27, in Sikar, that Modi last touched base with voters of the poll-bound state. The BJP naturally eyes a chance to dislodge the Ashok Gehlot government at the hustings, just about eight weeks away now. But hobbled by a lack of clarity on the chief ministerial candidate, it had crafted its campaign around a highly personalised, direct voter outreach by the PM. And if that didn’t accelerate to the degree one may have anticipated by the fearsome pace it took off with, it’s a reflection of that same inner dilemma about leadership.

Given this indeterminate status, the BJP has worked out a two-pronged strategy. One, discrediting the Gehlot-led Congress regime. Two, seeking to mobilise popular support through a yatra for parivartan, or change, which it launched hurriedly from the four corners of the state on September 2. The party hopes Modi’s visit will come as a redemptive grand touch to those roadshows, which have otherwise seen a poor turnout. Reason: the confusion at the top has filtered all the way down, candidate selection has been delayed, which has led to a deficit in local ground-level support.