Work with humility and do not let power change your attitude. Strong, blunt and brusque was the message delivered by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Nitin Nabin to senior party leaders who met him at Rajasthan Chief Minister Bhajan Lal’s residence for a breakfast meeting in Jaipur at 9.50 am.
In attendance were MLAs, MPs, senior party leaders, election in-charges and the newly inducted prabharis for Rajasthan — Sanjay Bhatia and Kavita Patidar. If a candidate has been given a ticket on the recommendation of a leader and he goes against the party, then the liability rests with the MLA or MP. A recent shocker for the BJP was in the Mundwa municipality in Nagaur. It is believed that the BJP councillors crossed over, and examples like these are not what the BJP wants repeated in the panchayat polls. Nitin Nabin’s advice to party leaders also emphasised how personal conduct shapes opinions of the party. Marathon meetings were held by BL Santosh ahead of the urban polls. Party president Nitin Nabin followed a similar pattern during his Jaipur visit: a photo op at Albert Hall, a dialogue with Gen Z and a public meeting to enthuse newly elected councillors, followed by the real task at hand – crucial and long deliberations with MPs, MLAs, election in-charges, district presidents and key party workers over the strategy for the panchayat polls.
The BJP was the largest party, with 10 councillors, and yet the BJP’s official candidate for the chairperson’s seat, Geeta Devi, got zero votes, while the Rashtriya Loktantrik Party (RLP) managed to form the board.
“We are in a party that is in power, or in sarkar,” Nitin Nabin is believed to have told party leaders in no uncertain terms. It is important to beware of the trappings of power and meet people with humility, as you did before, he said, warning that the trappings of power can be dangerous. Spelling it out, Nabin said that leaders who get tickets distributed through sifarish should also be held responsible for their candidates’ actions after the polls, including when it comes to voting to form boards and corporations. “Saadgi”, simplicity, no showbaazi and establishing a ground connect was the need of the hour, he stressed.
Because 72.16 per cent of Rajasthan’s voters will vote in this election, they are critical. Elections to 309 urban local bodies have just been completed, and now the panchayat elections, with 14,403 gram panchayats, are next.
