Personal allegations, poll debacle mar Raje's third year in office

Jaipur, Dec 8: Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje started her third year in office with big promises and mega projects for Rajasthan but which ended in a whimper today amid a poll debacle and bogged down with personal allegations.

The customarary press briefing trumpeting the government's achievements was not held on the completion of third year of Ms Raje in office, in all probability to ward off the controversial questions.

Ms Raje started the year with anouncements of hi-fi Special Economic Zone and Knowledge Corridor which ultimately could not take off, due to opposition within the party and the government.

The most recent controversy to rock the government has been the land grabbing allegation through the RSS-backed Deen Dayal Updhyaya Trust headed by Ms Raje herself in the capital's posh area. Ms Raje had to salvage her reputation through her face-saving act of withdrawing the land application.

On the personal front, Ms Raje has come under scathing attack due to her lip-lock at a function in New Delhi, coupled with her ramp walks in Bangalore and Jaipur.

Ms Raje is, however, unfazed saying she only wanted to promote the languishing Khadi weavers in the state through her participation.

The BJP had to face the media onslaught for flood mismanagement in Barmer, more than 100 deaths and Mr Raje's insensitive reactions on the heart-rending episode of five of a family being washed away in Phalna flash floods, where the forest minister Laxmi Narayan Dave was present at the site. The irony is Kawas and Malwa villages in Barmer district are still water-logged, four months on and the government is still unable to devise ways to pump out the water.

The farmers agitation for irrigation water in Ganganagar and Hanumangarh districts and the police atrocities in the past two months put the government on the backfoot with water fights still a major issue.

Lastly, the Dungarpur poll defeat yesterday has come as a major setback for Ms Raje, who is trying hard to establish her supremacy in the state BJP unit.

However, Ms Raje said today three years is a very short period and many things remain to be achieved in the state.

Ms Raje's fiscal management, educational initiatives and Mid-day meal scheme have been lauded by various quarters.

UNI