Jaipur: In what could be described as a surprising move, Rajasthan’ national BJP leaders are missing from the star campaigners list for Gujarat.
A list of 40 star campaigners was released by the Bharatiya Janata Party on Wednesday but it does not include the name of a single national leader from Rajasthan. Leaders including Vasundhara Raje, who are part of the national executive from Rajasthan, have been kept away from the Gujarat elections this time while 150 leaders including BJP state president Satish Poonia and Gajendra Singh Shekhawat have been deployed for field tasks.
Former Rajasthan chief minister Vasundhara Raje is the national vice president of the BJP while MP Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore is the national spokesperson of the BJP. Alka Singh Gurjar is the national secretary. State in-charge Arun Singh is the national general secretary and co-incharge Vijaya Rahatkar is the national secretary. MP Jaskaur Meena, Arun Chaturvedi are members of the national working committee. But none of these leaders has been deputed as a star campaigner for the Gujarat election.
Vasundhara Raje was included in the list of star campaigners in the last assembly elections but this time she has not been given a place.
However, the state leadership and organization of the Rajasthan BJP have already been activated by the central leadership in the Gujarat elections. Being a neighbouring state, the duty of 108 leaders of Rajasthan has been kept separate by Satish Poonia for the Gujarat elections.
Union Ministers coming from Rajasthan have also been taking part in the organizational work in the Gujarat elections and in helping Rajasthani voters. In Gujarat, four Union ministers from Rajasthan — Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, Bhupendra Yadav, Arjunram Meghwal, Kailash Chowdhary, besides BJP state president Satish Poonia have been entrusted with the task of campaigning among a team of 108 leaders.
–IANS