Kirodi Lal Meena, "On Verge Of Retiring", Is BJP Candidate In Rajasthan

Kirodi Lal Meena, a Rajya Sabha member, has been pulled into the Rajasthan contest. A big draw for Meena votes, the 72-year-old BJP veteran is being fielded from the Sawai Madhopur seat where he is up against party rebel Asha Meena and Congress MLA Danish Abrar.

In 2018, the BJP did not win a single seat in Sawai Madhopur.

He is tasked to bring in crucial Meena votes apart from winning his own seat.  

Meenas and Gujjars are key vote banks, especially in eastern Rajasthan where the BJP performed badly in the last election.

Mr Meena has claimed that the Gurjar community in Rajasthan has made a "ghar wapsi (homecoming)" to the BJP as its "big leader" Sachin Pilot was betrayed by the Congress and not made the chief minister. 

The veteran leader has a clout in the tribal community and at 72 years of age, he is pitching it as his swan song.

Asked if he is a possible Chief Ministerial candidate, Mr Meena told news agency PTI, "I am out of the list. I am 72 and on the verge of retiring." 

Behind BJP's strategy of fielding seasoned leaders in the assembly polls, party sources said it helps defuse factional feuds as they enjoy more acceptance. Such a move also raises the stakes for the satraps seeking key roles in government and organisation by throwing them the challenge of ensuring a good performance for the party in their seats and adjoining constituencies, they said.

Popularly known as "Doctor Sahab" and "Baba," Kirodi Lal Meena was first elected to the Assembly from Mahwa in Dausa district in 1985 on a BJP ticket.

Mr Meena was a Cabinet minister in the Vasundhara Raje government between 2003 and 2008. He left the party in 2008 over alleged differences with Ms Raje. In March 2018, he returned to the BJP and the party then sent him to the Rajya Sabha.

In recent times, the veteran leader has been consistently holding press conferences and making 'revelations' about issues such as government recruitment examination question paper leaks, which the BJP leader claims to have happened with the complicity of Congress leaders.

The investigating agencies too have picked up on these allegations and followed through.

Questioned about former chief minister 
Vasudhara Raje being a frontrunner for the top post in the state, Mr Meena said, "I cannot say; it is the parliamentary board that decides or the opinion of MLAs is taken and that time has not come."

"I don't think the party is fighting the polls with any person in mind, there is just one face which is of Narendra Modi," he underlined.

In Rajasthan, which will see a direct fight between the Congress and the BJP, anti-incumbency is an important factor. Since 1993, the state has alternated between the Congress and the BJP.

The state goes to polls on November 23. The votes for the 200-seat assembly will be counted on December 3.