This election is different for former chief minister Vasundhara Raje. Emotions are running high for her. While playing mind game, she unintentionally or intentionally played emotional card to create ripples in the stagnant political water.
A day after she showed her desire to retire from politics, Raje, 70, vehemently having denied having any plans for retirement. She said that the outpour was just sentiments of an elated mother seeing her son connecting well with the public.
“Jhalawar is my family. In this family, we speak a lot of things that have no political connotation. I said that yesterday because after looking at Dushyant (her son) and listening to his speech and looking at the reaction of people, I was delighted. As a mother, I was happy that there was such coordination between the two. I would like to make it clear that I am not going anywhere, I have just filed my nomination. Don't keep anything about retirement in your mind,” she said.
This is not for the first time a politician has played emotional card at a ripe age. Former chief minister of Punjab Amarinder Singh had also talked about retirement from politics before his last tenure as the chief minister. He not only won elections but also became chief minsiter after signalling about his retirement in public.
The Bihar chief minsiter Nitish Kumar in last assembly election in 2020 had announced that he was contesting his last elections while making an emotional appeal for a repeat of his government for the last time.
He had said “Ant bhala to sab bhala,” and he became the chief minister.
Recently Madhya Pradesh chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan had played emotional card with public saying that “jab main chala jaunga to yaad karoge,”
But he is contesting this election and a strong contender of chief minister if the BJP wins.
Karnataka chief minister Siddaramaiah has also announced 2018 elections to be his last. But in 2023 he contested the elections as grappled with D K Shiv Kumar to annexe the chief minsiter post.
Ram Kumar Kaushik is a seasoned journalist with over 25 years of experience across mediums. The architect of this news website, he is also a consultant with several media groups. He was formerly the group managing editor of ITV Network (NewsX, India News and The Sunday Guardian) and its digital products.
