By Archana Sharma
Jaipur, Aug 6 (IANS): At a time when the infighting within the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Rajasthan is out in the open, the party leaders called a meeting in Delhi sending out a message that the present young leadership in the state would be given a free hand. This has been done to pave the way for the party ahead of the forthcoming Assembly polls to be held in 2023.
Surprisingly, the photo of former Rajasthan Chief Minister and BJP leader Vasundhara Raje, who was present on the dais, was missing from the banner put up behind the stage.
The banner had four pictures -- those of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, BJP President JP Nadda, Leader of Opposition Gulab Chand Kataria and state BJP President Satish Poonia.
The same poster has been put up at the state BJP headquarters and had created a buzz in Rajasthan when the earlier poster carrying the picture of Vasundhara Raje was removed.
Putting up the same poster at the party meeting at the state headquarter is a message that the saffron party will move ahead with the current leadership, party insiders told IANS.
Meanwhile, Raje supporters in Rajasthan have been pitching to project her as the next Chief Ministerial face for the 2023 Assembly elections.
One of Raje's supporters Rohitash Sharma was recently expelled from the party for speaking against the party leadership.
The meeting on Thursday was addressed by Nadda, Rajasthan BJP in-charge Arun Singh, and Satish Poonia.
Nadda's address clearly said that there needs to be a proper coordination between the state organisation and the Union government where both need to work together.
The meeting was also attended by state and national office bearers of the BJP, including state Organisation General Secretary Chandrashekhar, National BJP Vice President Vasundhara Raje, BJP National secretary Alka Gurjar, Gulab Chand Kataria, and Rajendra Rathore, Deputy Leader of Opposition.
Sources said the BJP top leadership called a meeting of Rajasthan MPs with the organisation to ensure that there is proper coordination between the two entities and that various schemes of the Central government are being communicated at the grassroots level.
The other message given in the meeting was to make it clear that the organisation would be evaluating the performance of MPs for ticket distribution during the next elections and the coordination, therefore, is sacrosanct, said BJP workers.