Rajasthan: BJP Struggles To Contain Senior Leader Kirodilal Meena Amid Growing Dissent

The BJP and its government in Rajasthan is finding it difficult to handle its veteran leader Kirodilal Meena. In the name of the party not winning the seats under his influence in the Lok Sabha elections, Meena had resigned from the post of minister in July and now continuously raising such issues regarding which the government looks in a dilemma.

On the other hand, due to fear of resentment of Meena community and looking at the stature of Meena, Chief Minister Bhajanlal Sharma finding it difficult to take any decision on his resignation, s there is still no clarity on Meena's ministership, who holds multiple portfolios including agriculture and horticulture; rural development; disaster management, relief and civil defence. This strange status of Kirodilal Meena has been going on for more than three months and now the situation has become more curious as Dausa, his home district is also among the seats where by-elections are scheduled on November 13th.

Kirodilal Meena is considered the biggest leader of the Meena community in Rajasthan. He has good influence in Meena community dominated districts like Dausa, Sawai Madhopur, Karauli of eastern Rajasthan. Keeping this in view, the party had handed over the command to him on the seats of East Rajasthan in the Lok Sabha elections, but the party had to face defeat in the elections in this region. Kirodilal Meena could not even make the BJP win the seat of his home district, Dausa. 

During the election campaign itself, he had announced that if the party lose the seats under his command, he would resign from the post of minister. Keeping this promise, he left the post of minister in July, “ I could not convince my people… I could not make my party win, it left a bitter taste … mann toot gaya (It broke my heart). I had announced that if I can’t ensure a win in LS seats, I will resign as a minister,” Meena said after resignation. 

Soon after he announced his resignation, Meena was called to Delhi by BJP national president J P Nadda, but a status quo has been maintained since then.Meena  even skipped the budget session of assembly, although, during this period, he held meetings as Disaster Relief Minister, and it is being told that even today he is clearing the important files, but neither he is coming to office nor using the official accommodation and vehicle. 

Along with this, he is raising such issues and demands on which the government seems to be in a dilemma. Recently, he raised the demand to cancel the Sub Inspector recruitment examination held during the previous government. Large scale irregularities are coming to light in this examination, but there were hundreds of candidates who had cleared the examination honestly, and now they have opened a front against the government anticipating cancellation of the exam. Looking at this CM Sharma had to form a cabinet sub-committee to examine the demand as it has become a critical issue involving hundreds of families.

 Along with this, Meena also raised the issue of registration of fake doctors in Rajasthan Medical Council and even said in media that he had informed the government in time about the entire matter, but the government did not take any action. In fact, Meena was often making headlines for his agitations during the Congress government. He carried out several agitations on the streets against the Congress government and lodged complaints with ED and CBI on various matters ranging from Jal Jeevan Mission to question paper leak.

Now after coming to power he again started raising these issues and demanding action. As per the party sources, a major reason behind his resignation is believed to be his position in the government. Despite his tremendous activism during the Congress government and seniority, he was inducted only as a cabinet minister, while leaders much more junior to him were made CM and Deputy CM.

However, he never openly expressed any displeasure regarding this and said that he does not do any politics for the post. He has got a lot of love from the public. While CM Bhajanlal Sharma has maintained silence regarding the decision on his resignation, the party's state president Madan Rathod claimed that Kirodilal is a minister in the government who is doing his job, His resignation has not been accepted. Recently, he had attended the cabinet meeting also, said Rathore.