With hits and misses, how the political landscape panned out for key players

This year dawned with a new BJP government led by chief minister Bhajan Lal Sharma.

- Urvashi Dev Rawal

JAIPUR: Amid speculation about his administrative abilities, the year ended with a strong comeback by Congress in the Lok Sabha elections, followed by BJP trouncing Congress in the assembly bypolls, an investment summit in the first year of governance, and the launch of the ambitious ERCP water project.

The new faces in the BJP government, including chief minister Bhajanlal Sharma, deputy CMs Diya Kumari and Premchand Bairwa as well as several cabinet ministers signalled a change of guard in the party, with older leaders being replaced by the second rung.

The notable absence was that of former two-time CM Vasundhara Raje who has remained largely on the sidelines since the BJP's defeat in 2018 assembly polls. Other senior leaders like Rajendra Rathore, Gulab Chand Kataria, Arun Chaturvedi, Kalicharan Saraf, Prabhulal Saini, Shrichand Kriplani and Rajpal Shekhawat who were part of the Raje cabinet too found themselves out in the cold. However, the transition was not smooth and the lack of senior leaders and rift in the party was evident.

After the win in the 2023 assembly elections, the BJP went into the Lok Sabha elections with confidence with its election slogan of 'Abki baar 400 paar'. However, poor election management, infighting and a successful campaign by the Congress cautioning people that if the BJP returned to power stronger, it would amend the Constitution and end Reservation, limited the party to 14 seats. After sweeping the previous two Lok Sabha elections by winning all 25 seats, a loss of 11 seats was seen as a jolt to the party and the government.