Rajasthan: Will It Be Too Late For BJP By The Time Bhajan Lal Sharma's Favourite Projects Start Showing Results?

From the last row among the newly-elected members of the legislative assembly (MLA), Bhajan Lal Sharma was brought to the centre of power when he was appointed as the Chief Minister (CM) of Rajasthan in December 2023.

Even after the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) surprised many by picking low-profile leaders like Vishnu Deo Sai and Dr Mohan Yadav as CMs of Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh, respectively, Bhajan Lal Sharma’s selection in Rajasthan managed to be the biggest shock of all.

The surprise stemmed from the fact that while Vishnu Deo Sai had served as an MLA, member of Parliament (MP), and Union Minister of State, and Mohan Yadav was a three-term MLA and former state Minister, Sharma had just entered the assembly for the first time.

The image of a first-time MLA continues to shadow Sharma, as he still faces criticism of being 'remote-controlled from Delhi' and 'inexperienced', even nearly a year and a half into his tenure.

The issue came to light when former Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje, who is not often seen raising people's issues on social media, posted about water crisis in her assembly constituency in the Jhalawar district.

Raje pledged to 'not let this happen' and asserted, "Strict instructions were given to the officers of Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM) and Water Supply Department for immediate solution." In another post, she questioned how Rs 42,000 crore given by Prime Minister Narendra Modi were utilised for JJM.

"Give the account of every penny about what did you do with Jhalawar's share of the amount? Our government is giving money to solve the drinking water crisis, but the officers are not implementing the schemes properly. That is why the people of Rajasthan are thirsty. This is the situation of April. What will happen in June-July?" she stated.

If a former CM and senior BJP leader posts matters on the social media to question the officers, it signals a gap between the state's bureaucratic machinery and its governance.

While reasons like political posturing cannot be denied for Raje's posts, they do reflect a wider issue within the Rajasthan government, where officers are perceived to overpower public representatives.

Local newspapers frequently carry items about BJP leaders being dissatisfied with works of police officers in some crime cases or with administrative officers regarding welfare works.

"They (BJP leaders) allege that despite being a public representative, officers do not pay heed to them. The transfer orders do not align with their wishes," a staff member in the electrical department in Udaipur division told Swarajya.

Many people feel that being a first-time MLA, Sharma is unable to assert himself in the governance structure and hence, is not in a position to control it. A few others feel that CM Sharma suffers from a 'lack of acceptance' from bureaucracy and his own ministers due to inexperience.

A Jalore resident told Swarajya, "Even BJP workers can't get their works done. BJP MPs-MLAs have to approach the CM for even a single transfer order but despite that transfers do not happen. BJP's own leaders are not happy due to bureaucracy's dominance."

Presenting the people's opinion, he added, "People have now started thinking that the previous Ashok Gehlot government was better as they could get their works done by at least approaching the MLAs, but now, even MLAs cannot get their work done."

Even Sharma's supporters concede the point about the discomfort with the bureaucracy. However, they defend by saying that people should give him time as he is 'working hard with a good intent.'

The other point of view, put forth by a few others in favour of Sharma, is that whole narrative about 'control over bureaucracy' is propagated by BJP leaders who are facing difficulties in dealing with officers in their areas. The issue does not cause any inconvenience to the general public, in their opinion.

Nevertheless, Vasundhara Raje has blamed the officers for the water crisis. When this correspondent contacted a Jhalawar local to know the details, he said, "The water crisis is a common issue in summers but the major issue now is that they (officers) have installed taps (under JJM) but there is no water supply in it."

Bal Chand Dangi from Jhalawar elaborated, "Earlier, we used hand pumps but now hand pumps have dried up. At the same time there is no water in (JJM) taps." However, he added that the water crisis is not affecting the farming activities as a canal near his farm started operating in February this year.

While the residents of Jodhpur and Bikaner, the western districts of Rajasthan which often face water crisis, told Swarajya that they have not faced water issues until now this season, a Hanumangarh resident, district in northern Rajasthan with Indira Gandhi canal passing through it, said that they are compelled to use water tankers by paying Rs 1,000-1,200.

To improve the availability of potable water, CM Sharma has taken several initiatives. Last year, a tripartite agreement was signed with the Centre and the Madhya Pradesh government for the Parbati-Kalisindh-Chambal Link project, which will provide drinking water to 3.25 crore people across 21 districts including Jhalawar.

In his recent visit to the Shekhawati region, northeastern districts of Rajasthan, Sharma promised that soon an agreement would be signed with the Haryana government for the sharing of Yamuna water, reducing water crisis in Churu, Jhunjhunu and Sikar districts.

Other issues

While these initiatives take shape to resolve the water crisis issue, the people of Rajasthan complain about a plenty of other issues. Bikaner's Anand Kumar Sadh and Jhalawar's Bal Chand Dangi complained about poor road infrastructure.

Apoorv Mishra, from CM's own constituency, Sanganer in Jaipur said, "Road and sewage issues are everywhere except housing board colony. Chain snatching, looting and eve-teasing are common. Liquor consumption has increased due to poor restrictions on liquor shop timings."

Stories of mismanagement in government hospitals are often published in local newspapers. A Jalore resident complained about shortage of medicines in government hospitals.

The Sharma government is also under fire for scrapping several schemes of the previous Congress regime, including reversing the district status granted to nine towns by former CM Gehlot.

The people of these towns have protested against the decision, citing the inconvenience caused to them due to district headquarters being far off from their home towns or villages. The CM's recent visit to Sikar is also being linked to the protest against the revocation of district status awarded to Neem Ka Thana.

Similarly, the Sharma government is reviewing pensions for the elderly, single women, and specially-abled individuals, with plans to discontinue benefits for those above a certain income level—sparking public outrage.

It is believed that the Sharma government is taking these steps to reduce the government expenditure as the debt burden on Rajasthan nearly doubled to Rs 5.7 lakh crore during the Gehlot rule. However, the debt burden has been increasing even under Sharma, reaching Rs 7.25 lakh crore.

The review of English-medium government schools, started by the previous Gehlot government, is also being criticised by people as they fear that closure of such schools would leave them with the option of only Hindi-medium government schools.

While it's quite usual that the succeeding governments discontinue many schemes run by the previous governments, what's discomforting for even the BJP supporters is that the Sharma government has not been able to fulfill even the BJP's electoral promises.

After coming to the power, the Sharma government formed a cabinet committee to decide whether the SI exam 2021 should be cancelled. Despite this committee recommending the cancellation of the exam, the Sharma government has not taken any decision on the matter and continues to hear Rajasthan High Court's rebukes over its indecisiveness.

BJP leaders like Kirodi Lal Meena, who is also Agriculture Minister in the Rajasthan government, has been voicing his concerns regarding the SI recruitment exam and supporting the protesting students.

"Nothing has been done on issues of paper leak. Dr Saheb (Kirodi Lal Meena) has distanced himself from the public because he is ashamed of not being able to do anything despite himself being a part of government," a Meena supporter from Dausa told Swarajya.

Notably, the Sharma government formed a Special Investigation Team (SIT) over paper leaks and the actions like arrests and suspension of officials followed, but there has been no structural progress on the issue since. Only the law against paper leak, passed by the Gehlot government, has been implemented.

Interestingly, Meena is also considered close to Raje. The buzz is that all leaders close to Raje are being sidelined. "MLAs close to Raje did not get anything in the budget. They accept in personal conversations that nothing is under their control," political observer Satya Chaudhary told Swarajya.

Raje's attack at the officers under the Sharma government might just be a manifestation of this frustration.

While the politics within the party goes on, it is not as if the Sharma government has nothing to show for its tenure so far.

What Sharma did and didn't do

Most of these MoUs were focused on solar energy, one of the focus areas of CM Sharma. Energy MoUs accounted for over half of the value of total MoUs signed.

In the recent Rajasthan Budget also, additional subsidy by the state government was announced, in addition to Centre's subsidy under PM Surya Ghar Yojana for wider implementation of rooftop solar panels.

Recently, India’s largest single-location solar project was inaugurated by Sharma in Jaisalmer. The ReNew plant has a capacity of 1.3 GWp, enough to power 5 lakh homes.

"CM Sharma is working on building solar infrastructure from the base. A large solar plant is planned in Barmer, however, it is facing local opposition," an electrical department officer told Swarajya.

Notably, a Rs 8,500 crore project is planned in Barmer but it faced opposition from local Independent MLA Ravindra Singh Bhati over trees being cut for the plant. The issue is now being resolved with the CM's intervention.

"Large power plant projects are coming up in Rajasthan. Ramgarh of western Rajasthan has also been chosen," president of a teacher's association in Jodhpur, Ram Chandra Jakhar told Swarajya.

MoU regarding this was signed last year. The five proposed projects include 2×800 MW coal based pit-head power plant to come up in a coal bearing state, whose power would be drawn by Rajasthan.

Others are a 2,000 MW solar power project in Rajasthan Rajya Vidyut Utpadan Nigam Limited's (RRVUNL) solar park, 250 MW of solar project on the land acquired for Banswara Thermal Power Plant by RRVUNL and 50 MW wind project at the existing Ramgarh gas project, Jaisalmer.

However, despite the efforts for energy and water availability, Sharma fails to gain immediate popular support for his works, probably because these projects have a long gestation period, failing to show instantaneous results.

The issue in front of the people is the discontinuation of previous government schemes, no new popular schemes being introduced and the alleged disconnect between the bureaucracy and the government.

"The regular government work is going on fine. The issues against the government, which are being highlighted by the media, exist every time. The only difference now is that there is no promotion of the work done by the government," Naveen Sharma from Chittorgarh told Swarajya.

Another issue with Sharma is that he hails from a caste, Brahmin, which does not have a lobby of its own in Rajasthan. Moreover, Sharma does not belong to any of the BJP's three-four factions in the state, further leaving him without any organic support clique.

Sharma is seen as a 'lone warrior' and his image is further marred by the perception that he is being 'remote-controlled' from Delhi.

At such a point, only a strong public connection can improve Sharma's image. But that too doesn't seem to be happening as a political observer said on condition of anonymity, "Every leader has an aura to connect with the public, Sharma does not have that."

"There is no flagship scheme, which we can attribute to Sharma. There is no image through which people can relate to Sharma. Sharma has kept himself confined to a small social circle, denying him wider reach," the observer added.

While a few detractors even believe that Sharma would be replaced in mid-term, given his low popularity within the BJP itself, the CM can take lessons from other popular BJP CMs for the remainder of his term.

The common trait between them was that they focused on an issue that was deeply connected to the people's lives. Like Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who started his first term as Gujarat CM by focusing on basic health and education facilities. Similarly, Shivraj Singh Chouhan started his first term as Madhya Pradesh CM by building roads and ensuring electricity supply.

Sharma needs to focus on measures that directly affect people's lives in the short-term, while simultaneously working on long-term projects of solar energy and water availability. Both are needed for the state, but the former is more necessary than latter for a new leader to establish himself in the public eye.