Who is Rajasthan's Big Boss? BJP says it's PM as Gehlot toots his own horn
Jaipur, Nov 12: It’s the festive season and the Assembly polls are scheduled to be held after two weeks on November 25 in Rajasthan.
The top leadership of the Congress and the BJP, has decided to go without a chief ministerial face in these elections and hence the ‘Kaun Banega Mukhya Mantri’ suspense continuous for both the parties.
However the party circles are abuzz with ‘Big Boss’ discussions and this name appears in almost all discussions in the offices of both the parties whenever the topic of the prospective CM face is touched upon.
When BJP leaders are asked about the chief ministerial face, they say, “The central leadership knows everything about all the party leaders. Rajasthan is more like a ‘Big Boss’ house where all the candidates have been packed together in a house which is the desert state.
“Now these contestants kept fighting among themselves and they keep trying to bring down their team members just like the players do in the game show ‘Big Boss.’ Despite knowing the fact that ‘Big Boss’ is watching them, they continued with their antics and now they stand exposed.”
“Prime Minister Modi has said repeatedly that the elections will be contested without a chief ministerial face and the party symbol ‘Lotus’ is the face of the party in this election and all party workers will have to work to help the lotus bloom,” the BJP leaders say.
When asked who they think will be the CM after December 3, they say, “Shh!!! Silence! Big Boss is watching and he will decide who will be the winner in the long run.”
Meanwhile, Union Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat has reiterated that Modi and the party symbol of the ‘Lotus’ are the party's face in the Rajasthan elections.
The party's Parliamentary Board and MLAs will decide and select the CM following the election results.
It is the same situation in the Congress where party leaders say that “Big Boss is watching the entire game.”
Surprisingly, there are different promotional camps for CM Ashok Gehlot and for the party workers. While Ashok Gehlot’s publicity campaign is being run by a private agency Digital Box, the party workers are banking on the Congress media team.
For the CM’s press conferences and programmes the invitations come from Digital Box, while the invites for leaders like Chidambaram and others come from the Congress’ publicity cell.
The owner of Digital Box reportedly bad-mouthed Rahul Gandhi and Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa, incharge of Rajasthan Congress and had a tiff with PCC President Govind Dotasra. But still he has been given the task of working for the party in the elections in the desert state.
While earlier Digital Box only used to get CM Ashok Gehlot's photo printed in the campaign material, later on the issue was resolved and he started carrying pictures of the party's ‘Hand’ symbol and of Dotasra with Ashok Gehlot.
When asked why is it that the CM’s publicity and poll campaign management is done by an agency and the party’s promotion is done by Congress workers, the leaders insisted on staying silent and said “Big Boss is watching all.”
“If the CM has more trust on a private agency than us, then we won’t say anything. Let the agency handle his programmes. What we know is that Big Boss is watching all developments,” they said.
“Our Big Boss has given a free hand to CM Gehlot so that he doesn’t say that he was not trusted, if we lose the polls. So we are working like loyal soldiers so that the party can form the government again in the state.”
When asked who will be the CM if the party wins the polls, they said, “Big Boss is watching the entire game. Let us wait and see who Big Boss will choose.”
Meanwhile, Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa, told IANS, “There are no differences in the Congress and none of our leaders have said anything against each other in quite a few months. All those working with us are our partners and we are fighting the election like a family.”
Now, people in both the parties are waiting to see what action ‘Big Boss’ will take on December 3 in case of a victory. Meanwhile, surveys predict a tough fight in the desert state.
Surprisingly, the BJP and the Congress have both fielded candidates who have lost earlier elections in these polls. While the Congress gave tickets to 43 such candidates, the BJP has expressed confidence in 77 defeated candidates out of 200.
Both the parties are facing similar conditions in the state. Both have seen severe fragmentation, both have disputes related to infighting and both have decided to go faceless.
So the fight is all the more interesting as everyone is keen to see what action will ‘Big Boss’ take after results are out on December 3.