NDA Presidential candidate Droupadi Murmu’s visit to Jaipur on Wednesday to seek support for the July 18 elections was marred by an altercation between two senior BJP leaders over the entry of tribal supporters into the meeting venue. Ms. Murmu interacted with the representatives of tribal communities and the BJP lawmakers in two separate meetings.
Rajya Sabha MP Kirorilal Meena arrived with over 100 persons at the luxury hotel, where Ms. Murmu was scheduled to interact with the tribal leaders, retired officers, artists and sportspersons in a small hall. When they were denied entry because of the limited seating capacity, Mr. Meena had a heated argument with Deputy Leader of Opposition Rajendra Rathore, who is also Ms. Murmu’s election agent in Rajasthan.
Union Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat pacified Mr. Meena when he started shouting at Mr. Rathore. He asked both the leaders to calm down and instructed the participants not to raise slogans during the programme. However, Mr. Meena left the venue in a huff and did not attend either of the two meetings.
When a video of the altercation was circulated on social media, both the BJP leaders went into damage-control mode and claimed that there were no differences between them. Mr. Meena said he got agitated when the tribal workers from far-off places like Dungarpur and Banswara did not get entry for congratulating Ms. Murmu. Both Mr. Meena and Mr. Rathore addressed each other as “brother” in their messages posted on Twitter.
Pradesh Congress Committee president Govind Singh Dotasra shared the video of the incident on his Twitter account with a jibe at the BJP leaders. He wrote a poem in Hindi, insinuating that the BJP, with its infighting, had no connection with the people and its leaders were engaged in “mudslinging with an eye on power”.
Ms. Murmu, who arrived here by a chartered flight from New Delhi, met the BJP MPs and MLAs in the hotel, situated near Sanganer airport. Tribal groups presented folk performances near the hotel, while a large number of BJP workers gathered at the airport to welcome her.
Leader of Opposition in the State Assembly Gulab Chand Kataria told reporters after Ms. Murmu left the hotel that nominating a tribal woman for the President’s post was a significant decision taken by the BJP. He said the BJP expected that the MLAs from the tribal communities would vote for Ms. Murmu cutting across the party lines to ensure that she becomes the first tribal woman to get the country’s highest constitutional post.
The BJP has 71 MLAs in the 200-member State Assembly. The party has 24 Lok Sabha and four Rajya Sabha members from the State. The State Assembly has 32 MLAs belonging to tribal communities, against 25 seats reserved for Scheduled Tribes. Seven tribal MLAs won from general seats in the 2018 Assembly election.
Of the 32 seats, the ruling Congress has 17 and the Opposition BJP has nine. Two tribal MLAs are from the Bharatiya Tribal Party (BTP), which wields a considerable influence in the tribal-dominated regions of southern Rajasthan, and four are Independents.
