Jaipur: Not in any race for CM, says BJP’s Gajendra Singh Shekhawat

Jaipur : Amid speculation that he too may be fielded by the BJP in the Rajasthan Assembly polls, Union minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat said he is not in the race for the chief minister’s post. As elsewhere, the Bharatiya Janata Party has not projected any leader as its CM candidate in the Congress-run state. But former chief minister Vasundhara Raje and Shekhawat are being seen as possible contenders if the party wins. In its first list of 41 candidates, the BJP has nominated seven MPs for the assembly elections on November 25.

There is a buzz that the Jodhpur MP may also be asked to fight the state elections, possibly from Jodhpur’s Sardarpura assembly constituency -– held now by Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot. Shekhawat said there has been no discussion on this but any decision by the party’s top leadership will be followed. In an interview to PTI, he denied that he aspired for the top post in the state. “I am not in any kind of race. I only do the work my leadership and the organisation gives me to do. I have no aspiration or desire other than this,” he said.

Shekhawat said the Rajasthan Police has served him a notice, asking him to furnish details of bank accounts and financial transactions, as he accused Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot of working with political vendetta against him.

The Union Jal Shakti minister said the BJP legislature party will take the decision on the chief minister’s post, and that will then be validated by the party’s parliamentary board. He predicted that the BJP will cross its record 2013 tally of 163 seats in the 200-member Rajasthan House this time. Shekhawat dismissed allegations by some local leaders that they were denied the party nomination this time because they are in the Raje camp. “Tickets have been announced for 41 seats -- about 20 per cent seats. It is too early to draw conclusions from that,” he said.