Vasundhara discusses organisational changes in Rajasthan BJP with Shah

Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje and newly appointed state BJP chief Madanlal Saini met party president Amit Shah here today and deliberated upon likely organisational changes in the poll-bound state.

The meeting was held at Shah's official residence here and lasted for more than an hour. Organisation changes to strengthen the party's state unit was its main agenda, party sources said.

During the meeting, the leaders also discussed the strategy for the upcoming assembly election in the state, they added.

Besides Raje and Saini, the BJP's state unit organisational secretary Chandrasekhar and its national joint general secretary (organisation) V Satish were present.

This was the first meeting between Raje and Shah after the appointment of the new state BJP chief.

Last month, the appointment of Saini to the post of state BJP president was made after several rounds of meetings between Raje and Shah.

His appointment is being seen as a balancing act by the party leadership to avoid any political divide between two dominant castes of Jat and Rajput in the state.

Earlier, Rajput leader and Union minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, who represents Rajasthan's Jodhpur parliamentary constituency, was tipped to be the state president.

Singh was the choice of the party's high command but there was a difference between Raje and Shah over his selection.

Raje wanted her loyalist as the state president. After rounds of discussions, the name of relatively low-profile Saini emerged as a consensus candidate.

Saini belongs to the Mali caste, the same as Congress general secretary and former chief minister Ashok Gehlot.

The ruling BJP is in direct fight with a resurgent Congress in the state, and is facing uphill task of tackling anti-incumbency in the state.