Ahead of assembly polls in Rajasthan due in December this year, the state BJP appeared a divided house on Saturday as former chief minister Vasundhara Raje showed her strength of MLAs and leaders’ support at Salasar Dham temple.

Meanwhile, party’s state president Satish Poonia, supported by national general secretary Arun Singh, organised a demonstration against the Gehlot Government’s paper-leak cases at Civil Lines here.

Raje was organised a pooja before holding a rally to celebrate her birthday with loyalists at Salasar Balaji Dham in the Churu district while thousands of party workers and leaders under the banner of BJYM were facing water cannons and cane charge during gherao of CM’s residence here.

Party in-charge Singh, state president Satish Poonia and Deputy Leader in the Assembly R S Rathore address a huge crowd before marching towards Civil Lines where the police stopped them from breaking barricades, used water cannons and pushed them away with mild lathi charge.

They courted arrest and were bundled out in police department’s fleet of buses only to be released later at some other places, a Jaipur Police Commissionerate official informed.

The BJYM and party leaders demanded a CBI probe into all paper-leak cases reported during the Gehlot regime. The government had rejected the Opposition demand in the assembly to hand over the cases to the CBI.

Till last evening, BJP workers, MLAs, MPs and leaders were undecided about where to go and whom to support, whether to call for ‘vidhan sabha gherao’ or to bow down before the former chief minister Raje who is also the party vice-president.

Especially BJP’s sitting MLAs were in a fix as the assembly session was to hold the sitting on Saturday (today) too. But Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot’s quick & clever decision to call a Business Advisory Committee meeting in the House to reschedule the dates of its sitting and the House was adjourned yesterday, after the business was over at 9:30 pm, till March 13 at 1100 hrs.

It seems the CM and the pradesh Congress wanted to assess the political strength of Raje who is anticipating party’s victory for the third term. It is pertinent to mention here that the BJP high command and top leaders always claimed that it would not project a chief ministerial face in the upcoming assembly polls in Rajasthan, and only the Modi’s face and his government’s achievements would be focussed against the misrule of the Gehlot government.

However, to show party’s unity, Arun Singh went by road to Salasar Dham in the evening to meet Raje and extend his greetings on her birthday.

In her public address, Raje said, “As a worker of the organisation, I am under the leadership of Modi ji and Nadda ji and I am running you all.”

Chanting ‘Oh Bajrang Bali Hanuman, Oh Mahavir’, she said, “I love you all. On the day of my birthday, people come from every corner of Rajasthan and give me love. Rajmata had taught me that even if you have to give your life for the land of Rajasthan, do not back down”.

On the alleged all-round failure of the Congress government in the last 4.5 years, Raje said, “Rajasthan is burning, the Chief Minister (Gehlot) is sleeping peacefully.”

“Janta Jaag Gayi hai, Ab unki kursi Nahin Bachegi (public has woken up, now their chair will not be spared). People’s faith is being hurt by demolishing temples. Corruption has reached its peak, even the smallest work is not being done without money. The CAG report mentions the corruption in illegal mining. The insurance of the farmers which was to be done in 2022-23, did not happen”.

श्री गुरु चरण सरोज रज, निज मन मुकुरु सुधारि।
बरनउँ रघुबर बिमल जसु, जो दायक फल चारि।।

आज सालासर में बालाजी महाराज के दर्शन के साथ जन्मदिन की शुरुआत कर पुजारी गण एवं संतों का आशीर्वाद लिया।#SalasarBalaji pic.twitter.com/qAP9NKplIK

— Vasundhara Raje (@VasundharaBJP) March 4, 2023