Jaipur, March 12 Taking the recent BJP's victory in Uttar Pradesh as a case study, the BJP in Rajasthan may field 170-180 fresh candidates in the next Assembly elections to be held in 2023, party sources said.
As per party officials, the BJP in Uttar Pradesh denied tickets to at least 104 sitting MLAs, who remained comparatively inert or inactive both in the organisation and in their constituencies during their tenure.
In 104 seats where candidates were changed and new faces were brought in, 80 have won, a strike rate of 70 per cent. Among the seats which the NDA lost in 2017, the BJP repeated candidates in 16 seats of which only four won while in 69 of these seats, the party fielded new candidates of which 19 won, said a party worker.
Similarly, the Rajasthan BJP is working on a formula to carry out a massive reshuffle and will change candidates on at least 150-170 seats, the party official added.
Moreover, the sitting MLAs who did not desist from issuing controversial statements from time to time putting the party in a spot, may face the axe this time. Similarly, age will again be a bar. Those who have crossed 70 years will not be given tickets in 2023, said a senior BJP leader.
"The party leadership believes that those sitting MLAs who have been under the scanner of public, party men, should be replaced by new and more dedicated faces," said a senior BJP leader.
Those who have left the party red-faced in the Assembly, or have a questionable behaviour, shall also not get a chance next time, they added.
The party is working on Gujarat and Karnataka model, making Panna Pramukhs contact each home and family and is also learning lessons from Gujarat Assembly elections 2017.
Presently, the party is facing a tough time due to factionalism between former Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje and state president Satish Poonia.
Recently, BJP in-charge Arun Singh, after a big show of strength on Vasundhara Raje's birthday, gave a strong message to her loyalists saying that they should think only for the party. "I request all party workers that they should think for the party. It is our mother. It is because of the party that they are there," he said talking to the media in Jaipur recently.
On the statements made by Raje loyalists, Arun Singh said, "We are noting down the statements and will take appropriate action against those who are trying to weaken the party. They will not get a second chance," added Arun Singh.
On the demand to declare Raje as the CM face, Arun Singh said that there is no such demand and this is to be decided by the parliamentary board of the party. "Workers should not make such demands so that it can harm their leader," said Arun Singh.
Senior party leaders confirmed that in Gujarat assembly elections 2017 too, many fresh candidates were given tickets which helped the saffron outfit sail smoothly in a tough fight and similar is the case in UP and hence Rajasthan is studying the two models closely and shall implement it soon. After March, many district presidents may be replaced to make a fresh start in this direction.
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