Raj BJP lures Brahmins, Rajputs, Jaats with eye on Assembly, LS polls

By Archana Sharma
Jaipur, April 3 With months left before the state goes to the polls, and ahead of next year's Lok Sabha elections, the BJP in Rajasthan is focusing on social engineering by appointing three leaders from the Brahmin, Rajput and Jaat communities in key posts.

After appointing Chittorgarh MP C.P. Joshi as the Rajasthan BJP President, the party on Sunday named Rajendra Rathore as the Leader of Opposition, while Satish Poonia has been appointed as Rathore's deputy in the Assembly.

While Joshi is a Brahmin, Rathore is a Rajput leader while Poonia hails from a Jaat background.

If political experts are to be believed, all these appointments seem less organisational and more related to caste arithmetics of Rajasthan. In the last 10 days, the BJP has tried to bring its social engineering back on track in Rajasthan by making these three new appointments. The appointments also give many political signals.

Brahmin, Vaishya and Kshatriya are the core voters of the BJP in Rajasthan. This is the reason why BJP's social engineering is now visible in this direction months before the elections.

By making Joshi the state unit chief, BJP has tried to lure the Brahmin community, while naming Rathore as the Leader of Opposition is an attempt to win over the Rajput voters.

Also, by appointing leaders from the state such as Om Birla as the Lok Sabha Speaker and Gulab Chand Kataria as the Governor of Assam, the BJP has reached out to the Vaishyas.

Senior BJP leaders and political experts told that all these strategies are meant for the Assembly elections as well as for next year's Lok Sabha polls.

Striking a balance between all the big leaders, BJP has appointed them to different key posts. As things stand now, only Vasundhara Raje is among the prominent leaders on whom the BJP's central leadership has not been able to take any decision yet.

Experts believe that the Raje factor will play a significant role, both in the Assembly elections and next year's Lok Sabha polls. In such a situation, all eyes are set on what role she gets and where she is accommodated so that the party succeeds in its social engineering plan.