DESERT STORM

It’s open season in Rajasthan. With assembly polls due in December, the political mercury in the state has shot up with allegations and counter-allegations flying thick and fast between two of the state’s top leaders.

- Rohit Parihar

Early this month, Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, the Lok Sabha MP from Jodhpur and Union minister for jal shakti, filed a criminal defamation suit against Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot for character assassination by calling him and his family scam-accused.

The case, filed at Delhi’s Rouse Avenue Court, is the latest in the salvos— fired through words, police, and court cases—between the two leaders from rival parties. And it is not only a fight for dominance over their home turf—Jodhpur—but also for the state. The fact that Shekhawat has been the most vocal BJP leader against Gehlot over the past four years apparently puts him in a position to be the frontrunner in the CM race if the BJP comes to power.