Rajasthan Chief
Minister Ashok Gehlot’s close aide and former Jodhpur mayor Rameshwar Dadhich,
who had filed his nomination for the upcoming Assembly polls from the Soorsagar
constituency as an Independent candidate, withdrew his papers and joined the
BJP on Thursday.
Former Dausa
district president of the Congress Vinod Sharma also joined the Bharatiya
Janata Party (BJP) on Thursday.
In Jaipur, former
minister Rajpal Singh Shekhawat, who had filed his papers from Jhotwara against
the BJP’s Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore, withdrew his nomination following talks
with the party high-command.
“I have joined the
BJP due to the decision-making capacity of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. I have
been impressed with his work for long. If Modi was not the prime minister, the
construction of the Ram temple (in Ayodhya in Uttar Pradesh) could not have happened,”
Dadhich said after joining the saffron party.
He joined the BJP
in the presence of Union minister and the party’s Rajasthan election in-charge
Pralhad Joshi, Union minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat and MP Rajendra Gehlot.
Shekhawat said
leaders of the Congress and other parties are joining the BJP as they are fed
up with the policies and fake promises of such parties.
He said the time
has come for the departure of the Congress government from the desert state.
Other BJP rebels,
including Chandrabhan Singh Akya from Chittorgarh, Yoonus Khan from Deedwana,
Ravindra Bhati from Sheo, Banshidhar Bajiya from Khandela, Bhawani Singh
Shekhawat from Kota’s Ladpura, Kailash Meghwal from Shahpura in Bhilwara and
Priyanka Choudhary from Barmer, have not withdrawn their nominations as
independents, making the electoral contests on these seats triangular.
On the other hand,
former Congress MLA from Badi Sadari Prakash Choudhary, Mahendra Barjod from
Dungarpur’s Chorasi, Rajkaran Choudhary from Sardarshahr and Brahamdev Kumawat
from Masuda have not withdrawn from the poll race and have decided to contest
as independents.
Thursday was the
last day for withdrawing nominations. The 200-member Rajasthan Assembly will go
to polls on November 25 and the counting of votes will be taken up on December
3.
PTI
