By Archana Sharma

Jaipur, Apr 10 (IANS): As former CM and BJP national vice president Vasundhara Raje continues maintaining a distance from campaigning for the bypolls scheduled on three seats on April 17, the BJP has strategically invited her nephew BJP MP Jyotiraditya Scindia to Sahada, cashing in on the historic ties the Scindia family shares with Gangapur.

Bypolls are scheduled on three seats namely Rajsamand, Sahada and Sujangarh.

Scindia will address an election rally at Gangapur in the Sahada district on Sunday and this will be the first-ever gathering he will address in the desert state after joining the BJP.

The party leaders are working hard to make this rally a success as the people from this constituency especially requested the party to invite Scindia as they share historic ties with Scindia family since years, confirmed BJP sources.

Local residents say that Gangapur and the Scindia family have enjoyed warm ties for more than two centuries.

More than a dozen villages were once part of the then Gwalior kingdom. Gangabai, the daughter-in-law of the Scindia family, was the daughter of the Mewar royal family. Once, she visited Udaipur on a personal visit and while returning, died at Lalpura village which is situated near Gangapur. Hence the place was anointed as Gangapur and a temple was constructed in her name.

As per the tradition of erstwhile royals, a place where the last rites were performed, should belong to the same kingdom. So, the Mewar kingdom gifted a dozen villages to the Scindia family. Since then, the place has shared strong ties with the Scindia family

In fact, Raje maintained a healthy relationship with the people of Gangapur and has been coming here for election rallies. However, BJP strategists invited Jyotiraditya rather than convincing Raje to come here.

He had earlier been here when he was with the Congress. He was accorded a warm welcome by people here at that time too.

Sources said the central leadership pitched in for Jyotiraditya this time on the request of the state BJP leadership as Raje had shown no interest in going to the field since nominations were filed.

They said that Scindia's visit will help the party gain ground on Rajsamand and Sahada, two seats where the Rajput community stands strong.