Rajasthan: Beniwal accuses Raje of aiding Congress

RLP convenor and Nagaur MP Hanuman Beniwal recently accused former Rajasthan Chief Minister and BJP national vice-president Vasundhara Raje of aiding the Congress during the Khinvsar by-poll held on October 21 and urged senior leaders including party chief Amit Shah, J.P. Nadda and BJP state president Satish Poonia to take action against her.

While all senior leaders have maintained stoic silence on these allegations, former IPS officer Pankaj Choudhary told , "If Beniwal is accusing Raje of helping Congress, he must be telling the truth as we have seen the complete picture during Lok Sabha elections when Raje and her team made all efforts to sabotage votes of Gajendra Singh Shekhawat too. Shekhawat was fielded by BJP from Jodhpur against Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot's son Vaibhav Gehlot. Here, Raje's support to Gehlot was very much evident during elections, however, the strong teamwork of RSS and BJP turned her efforts futile," he said.

Hence, this is not the first instance when Raje has been accused of helping Congress in one way or the other, he said.

Choudhary's wife Mukul was the BSP candidate from Jodhpur during the parliamentary elections.

"Our workers deputed across Jodhpur confirmed that Raje with her team is helping Gehlot to ensure his son wins," he added.

"At the same time, Gehlot also ensured that Raje's son Dushyant wins from Jhalawar, which has been her home turf for last three decades and hence had fielded a weaker Congress candidate from there.

As Vasundhara felt threatened for her son in Lok Sabha elections, a weak candidate Pramod Sharma was fielded from Jhalawar who once was a BJP worker and had joined Congress a few years back, Choudhary said.

This Congress choice had left one and all surprised and in fact, the then Congress President Rahul Gandhi also questioned this selection. But as it was quite late, the candidate could not be changed, confirmed a Congress spokesperson on condition of anonymity while supporting claims of Choudhary.

"I have worked with Ashok Gehlot as well as Vasundhara Raje during their CM tenures for many years and have closely observed how they are working in connivance during their alternate tenures. They get the officers of their choice appointed to top positions to ensure there is no damage to either of the two even when they are in opposition."

Speaking about Assembly elections, he said, "Congress initially had plans to field my wife from Jhalrapatan which is her home place besides being Raje's home turf. While Raje represents herself as 'bahu' from this seat, my wife was a daughter from the place and hence there could have been a tense tussle as RSS, opposition, Gujjars and Jats all wanted to defeat Raje due to her arrogance.

"Even Congress chairperson Sonia Gandhi was fine with the idea of fielding Mukul from this seat. However, at the eleventh hour, due to Gehlot's interference, Manvendra Singh was brought into the picture as Congress candidate and was fielded against Raje. He was not a native of Jhalrapatan and hence was more like a dummy candidate of Congress which went in Raje's favour. Gehlot's supportive nature for Raje was clearly seen in this episode too," he added further.

"There have been many such incidents in past too where Raje's connivance with Gehlot has come to fore," Choudhary added.

In fact, in recent months too, Raje's absence from all significant meetings, programmes and from party campaigning during by-polls too is being discussed by one and all including the party workers, public and the media.

A senior BJP leader speaking on Raje's absence from all party programmes told , "There is nothing new in her absence from state during Gehlot's tenure as CM. Over the years, we have observed this very fact that when Gehlot assumes charge as CM, Raje goes out of Rajasthan and prefers to stay either in Delhi or in London."

"She stays there for four years and then returns in the final year for the Assembly election. Had she stood strong as a leader of opposition in all these years and brought forth all weaknesses of Congress during its rule, she could have easily broken the cyclical trend of power shifting between alternate hands with the saffron flag standing tall in the state in all these years," he added.

( With inputs from IANS )