Garner public support: Raje to aspiring party candidates

Aspiring candidates for the upcoming Assembly elections were asked by BJP state president Vasundhara Raje to garner public support, rather than looking at senior party leaders for a ticket.
Speaking in the first executive committee meeting after taking over as the party's state chief, Raje said that the party will collect ground level feedback before selecting candidates for the elections.
"Ground level feedback, level of public support and popularity will be the key parameters in ticket distribution.
None will be considered in pressure, and proximity to a senior leader will also not work," she clarified in her inaugural address.
In his concluding remarks, Kaptan Singh Solanki, in-charge of the party's state affairs, reiterated that the upcoming Assembly election will be contested under the leadership of Raje who will also be the party's chief ministerial candidate.

This was the first meeting of the new executive committee, which was held at a private resort, where committee members, office bearers, party MLAs and MPs were present.

Senior party leader and legislator Ghanshyam Tiwari, who is believed to have differences with Raje and unhappy over her appointment, skipped the meeting.
Party vice president Arun Chaturvedi said that he was not aware of the reason behind Tiwari's absence.
"529 members were supposed to attend but around 500 of them came in the meeting.
Tiwari is one of those not present in the meeting and I am not aware of the reason," he told reporters.