Rajasthan BJP gears up for Amit Shah’s visit

The Home Minister is visiting the State for the first time after the party lost power in 2018

Home Minister Amit Shah’s scheduled visit to Rajasthan over the weekend is being highly anticipated by the State unit of the BJP, as it comes after bypoll losses and a solo yatra by former Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje. The yatra was seen as an intensification of the face off between her and State BJP chief Satish Poonia.

Mr. Shah will be in Jaisalmer for a function associated with the Border Security Force but then will proceed to Jaipur for the more political part of his tour — an address to the working committee of the State unit and a public rally “Panchayat to Parliament” involving local body representatives from nearby panchayats, urban local bodies and cooperative societies as well. Accompanying him from Delhi will be the man Mr. Shah had hand-picked to be the State unit chief in 2018 — Jal Shakti Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat.

State BJP sources said Mr. Shah would certainly be apprised of the problems within the unit. Ms. Raje’s strong-showing in her yatra in the last week of November, where she visited bereaved families of COVID-19 victims and also temples along the way, as well as popping up of posters on the route of her yatra, stating “Poonia bhagao, bhajapaa bachao” (get rid of Poonia, save the BJP) has brought matters to a head.