The ruling BJP campaign for the November 11 by-election in the Anta assembly constituency in Rajasthan got a big boost on Thursday with Chief Minister Bhajan Lal Sharma and the two-time ex-CM Vasundhara Raje jointly seeking votes for the party nominee Morpal Suman in an impressive road show.
Riding on a especially prepared Vijay Rath, Sharma and his predecessor Raje, accompanied by the contestant, Suman and the BJP state president Madan Rathore, participated in the 2.5-km road-show in the Mangrol town of the constituency,
The road show took a ceremonial start from the Subhash Chowk area after garlanding of the Subhash Chandra Bose’s statue and passed through main parts of the town amid rousing welcome by huge crowd along the route.
Raje’s son, five-time MP from Jhalawar Dushyant Singh, escorted the “Vijay Rath” marching ahead along with a group of local party workers.
Both Sharma and Raje were intermittently making appeals to the people for support to party candidate Suman.
The chief minister sought votes for the development work and welfare initiatives taken up by his two-year regime in the constituency in December 2023.
This is for the first time since the installation of the incumbent BJP government in the state in December 2023 when Raje accompanied the chief minister in an election campaign in the state. The party ranks and files were all elated to see Raje joining the poll campaign. Her son Dushyant has been canvassing for several days.
Raje herself has publicly announced that she and MP Dushyant Singh are standing in support of Morpal Suman. This presented a strong and unified face of the party in the state. Since Anta in the Jhalawar district falls in the stronghold of Raje and her son, the mother-son duo’s “whole-hearted” support to Suman may prove decisive factor in this by-election, said a BJP spokesman, who is camping in Anta for some days.
The by-election in Anta is necessitated due to disqualification of BJP MLA Kanwar Lal Meena following his conviction in an old criminal case.
The Opposition Congress has also fielded a strong candidate, Pramod Jain Bhaya, three-timer ex-MLA and a former minister. Among other contestants is former Congress rebel Naresh Meena (Independent) is causing worries to the camps of the BJP and the Congress.