Central leaders to be in limelight during BJP’s four Parivartan Yatras in Rajasthan

The BJP will launch four ‘Parivartan Yatras’ from four corners of Rajasthan, beginning this week-end, ahead of this year’s State Assembly election, covering all the 200 constituencies

The Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP) will launch four ‘Parivartan Yatras’ from four corners of Rajasthan, beginning this week-end, ahead of this year’s State Assembly election, covering all the 200 constituencies and traversing a distance of 8,982 kilometres. The party’s central leaders are going to launch the four yatras.

The BJP’s move assumes significance for internal politics of the party, as a collective leadership is expected to be in the limelight during the election campaign, rather than a single face being projected as the leader. None of the State leaders, including BJP State president C.P. Joshi, will be in the front and no aspirant for the Chief Minister’s post will get a weightage, according to the sources in the party.

BJP national president J.P. Nadda will flag off the first yatra from Trinetra Ganesh temple in Sawai Madhopur on September 2. It will culminate in Jaipur after covering 47 Assembly seats in eastern Rajasthan. Union Home Minister Amit Shah will flag off the yatra from Dungarpur on September 3, while his Cabinet colleagues Rajnath Singh and Nitin Gadkari will launch the two subsequent yatras from Jaisalmer and Hanumangarh.

The choice of Hindu pilgrim centres and temples in the four towns for launching the yatras is also aimed at sending across a message to the BJP’s core constituency and counter what the party describes as “appeasement policy” of the ruling Congress. The places of origin of the yatras are Trinetra Ganesh temple in Sawai Madhopur’s Ranthambhore Fort, Beneshwar Dham in Dungarpur, Ramdevra in Jaisalmer and Gogamedi temple in Hanumangarh.

With the BJP’s central leadership monitoring the election campaign, as many as 72 public meetings will be organised across the State during the yatras between September 2 and 22. Prime Minister Narendra Modi is likely to address a rally on the culmination of all the four yatras.

The decision to bring senior leaders from New Delhi to Rajasthan to launch the yatras also marks a departure from the practice of former Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje leading such marches during the last four Assembly elections. Ms. Raje was introduced as the BJP’s face through a yatra in 2003, when the party formed the government by winning 120 seats. She led the pre-polls yatras, titled ‘Suraj Gaurav Yatras’ in 2008 and 2018, when the party was in power, and Parivartan Yatras in 2003 and 2013.

Interestingly, the BJP’s yatras have led to the formation of government only twice so far, as the voters have depicted a “revolving door” pattern since 1998. For the 2023 polls, Ms. Raje is missing from both the BJP’s recently formed election management committee and manifesto committee, giving rise to speculations about her role in the party’s election strategies as well as the scope for her projection as the Chief Ministerial face.