JAIPUR: The newly appointed president of the BJP in Rajasthan, CP Joshi took over his responsibilities on Monday at a special function in the party headquarters in Jaipur. Joshi who is also the Lok Sabha MP from Chittorgarh has replaced former state president Satish Poonia. The appointment is an attempt to reduce party infighting in the state unit during the election year and is a move to gain a special advantage in the Mewar region of Rajasthan.
Joshi left Delhi on Monday with a large convoy of supporters to take charge and reached the Rajasthan BJP office around 2 pm. Joshi first offered prayers and then took charge from former president Satish Poonia. During this, Joshi also received blessings from sages and saints present for the event. Joshi, while addressing the party workers, instructed them that no slogans except for PM Narendra Modi, Amit Shah, and Bharat Mata should be raised. He urged the workers, "if you want to see me survive, do not raise my slogan after today." He said that the party has given such a significant responsibility to an ordinary worker among them and together they will take the party forward and pave the way for victory in 2023.
Joshi said that in 2018, they were left behind by a few lakh votes due to some reason, but in 2023, they will work together to overthrow the "useless" Gehlot government. Joshi said that now that the reception has been done as much as it was supposed to be, they need to focus on work for the next six months.
He told the workers that for the next six months, they need to take PM Modi's ideas and the government's works among the public. He further added that the Modi government has developed Ayodhya into a cultural center and a grand Ram temple is being built there and we need to take it to the people of Rajasthan. Joshi also mentioned the removal of Article 370 in Kashmir as a major BJP success
Referring to the Kanhaiya Lal murder case of Udaipur, Joshi said that Kanhaiya Lal's neck was not cut, but the government's neck was cut. He said that when the brave men who caught Kanhaiya's killers pleaded with the government about the threat to their lives, the government did not listen to them.
During the program, former BJP President Satish Poonia thanked Amit Shah and PM Modi and expressed gratitude to the workers. He said that the party has brought a simple person from a farmer's family to this point, which he did not expect. Poonia said that with the strength of the organization and the edge of the movement, they will work to bring the reality of the Gehlot government to the public. At the same time, during the swearing-in ceremony, Poonia also jokingly said that Joshi had become the state president during Navratri, but he himself became state president during Shraddha. So people used to tell him that he would not last long, but still, everyone's blessings remained on him.
Poonia also said that while strengthening the organization in the last three years, all workers fought like warriors against the Congress government through agitations. Poonia said that through the Jan Aakrosh Yatra, they went from village to village to meet 2 crore people, and this time in Rajasthan, the name and work of PM Modi will change the rule. Poonia said that under the leadership of CP Joshi, they will regain the government in Rajasthan in 2023 and work to make it invincible.
However, the most talked-about aspect of the event was the participation of former Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje. Raje had been distancing herself from most of the state BJP programs for a long time, reportedly due to her strained relationship with former president Satish Poonia. But Raje was present at Joshi's swearing-in ceremony, albeit virtually, as she was busy with Navratri-related worship. The bitterness between former state chief Poonia and former CM Raje had made the Rajasthan BJP an open case of infighting for the past few years. In election year, Joshi's elevation is seen as a signal that the BJP intends to patch up the differences between its major leaders in Rajasthan.
Senior leaders including the party's Rajasthan in-charge Arun Singh, co-in-charge Vijaya Rahatkar, Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, Kailash Chaudhary, Om Mathur, MP Dushyant Singh, Rajendra Rathore and many other MPs were present during Joshi's swearing-in ceremony.
