By Archana Sharma

Jaipur, Apr 19 (IANS): Although it has been two days since the by-polls are over in Rajasthan, the tweet shared by former CM Vasundhara Raje on voting day continues to be a point of discussion. It raised eyebrows in political corridors and surprised many senior leaders as she did not mention the party even once: rather, she asked voters to follow Covid protocol while voting.

In one of her tweets shared on Saturday, Raje said, "Voting for by-polls is scheduled on three seats today on Rajsamand, Sahada and Sujangarh. I appeal to all voters to cast their votes following corona guideline and inspire others to vote too. #votekar," she tweeted.

She also put out two other tweets on the same day. In one of them, she paid tributes to former PM Chandra Shekhar

"Tributes to former Prime Minister of India Shri Chandra Shekhar Singh ji on his birth anniversary," she said tagging #chandrashekharsingh.

Her third tweet was a prayer offered to Durga in which she tweeted, Sarwamangal Mangalye, Shive Sarwarth Sadhike, Sharanye Triyambake Gauri, Narayani Namostate.

"Raje's tweets sounded more like the tweets of the election commission team who guided the voters to vote cautiously amid the pandemic following protocols but she did not endorse her party in the tweet," said a senior party worker. "While other party workers worked religiously on ground to ensure we win all three seats, Raje did not even come once to show her face. Now, this tweet shows that she is least bothered for the party," he told IANS.

In fact, Raje had distanced herself from bypolls, both in terms of campaigning and strategising, which were held on three seats namely Sahada, Rajsamand and Sujangarh.

While the union ministers Gajendra Shekhawat, Kailash Chaudhary, Arjun Ram Meghwal all endorsed the party in their tweets, the BJP national vice-president Raje had other priorities, pointed out BJP workers.

However, they opined that the party works at a larger level aiming at bigger goals and this is a trivial issue and hence no one is paying attention towards it.

"We have bigger concerns as of now and hence let's not talk on this small issue," said a party worker.