PM Modi thinking of rejigging leadership in Rajasthan: Rajyavardhan Rathore

Jaipur, Oct 12 (PTI) Jaipur Rural MP Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore has said Prime Minister Narendra Modi is considering bringing fresh leadership in Rajasthan so that the state becomes a partner in his mission of 'Amrit Kaal'.

Rathore, who has been fielded by the BJP from Jaipur's Jhotwara assembly seat, said Modi has started a report card politics in the country.

Polling on all the 200 seats will be held on November 25 and the results will be announced on December 3. The BJP has issued the first list of 41 candidates which has seven MPs including Rathore.

"PM Modi is thinking of bringing fresh leadership in Rajasthan and that is because Rajasthan has been a backward state for so many years. Rajasthan should become a partner in the Amrit Kaal mission of the prime minister and should lead in that way. Youths here who are capable should move forward with the country. We want that," he told PTI.

Rathore also reacted to the protest in the constituency in support of former MLA Rajpal Singh Shekhawat, saying the BJP is the only party that gives everybody opportunity to move forward. "Maybe someone got an opportunity today and someone else will get tomorrow." Shekhawat, considered a close confidant of former chief minister Vasundhara Raje, was expecting a ticket from the Jhotwara seat. But when the BJP fielded Rathore from there, his supporters held a demonstration at the party office demanding ticket to Shekhawat.

Rathore, a former Olympian who joined politics in 2013 after taking retirement from the Indian Army, said he will remain focussed on the challenge immediately in front of him and the task given by the party.

"I believe that the BJP is the only party which gives the opportunity to move forward. Maybe someone got an opportunity today and tomorrow someone else will get. This is possible in the BJP only that a common man gets the opportunity and it is only the BJP where the entire cabinet is removed and the public's trust is won," he said.

"But if someone becomes over-ambitious like Sachin Pilot (Congress leader who led a rebellion against his own party), he will hit his own foot again and again," he said, in apparent reference to Rajpal Shekhawat without naming him.

This will be the first assembly election for Rajyavardhan Rathore.

"Whatever task is given to me, I complete it with full commitment, discipline and with high standards. Everyone knows the standard of my game (shooting). Terrorists used to hesitate to pass from my area (when he served in the army)," he said.

The Congress will face a humiliating defeat in the assembly elections and the BJP will win with a thumping majority, he said.

The BJP will offer good governance, create a safe environment for women and will address the issues of farmers and youths, he said. "We have to create such an environment where even if daughters and sisters roam around wearing jewellery at night, no one has the courage to look at them," he said.

He also said the Congress government led by Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot only made announcements but these did not translate into reality on the ground.

There will be no impact of these announcements and schemes on the election, he said.

The former Indian Army officer said it was the Modi government that fulfilled the demand of one rank one pension. PTI SDA TIR TIR