In politics, repairing old ties gone sour most often means charting out a game plan to consolidate strength in order to fight new rivals and face new challenges. This is exactly what Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje did by paying a series of courtesy visits to Vice-President Bhairon Singh Shekhawat, her former political mentor, last month.

True, amid stinging criticism from various quarters within the BJP, both inside and outside Rajasthan, and the RSS over several official policies and appointments, Raje needs more friends to speak for her. The first step is to please Shekhawat so that she can win back the favour of his loyalists, who are angry that the veteran leader is being kept in the dark about political affairs in the state. By doing so, she can enjoy the backing of a major chunk of the state BJP.

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BURYING THE HATCHET: Raje and Shekhawat

The relationship between the chief minister and Shekhawat, who had recommended her name to head the state BJP to take on the Congress in the previous assembly polls, came under strain after she apparently stopped consulting him on decision-making. Later, the fact that pulled off a surprise election victory for the party was used by a coterie around her to build up the perception that she had done what Shekhawat hadn't been able to do. Also, Raje wanted to spread her wings and prove that she could administer on her own. This was reinforced when she steered the party to triumph in the 2004 Lok Sabha polls. The group of advisers handpicked by her allegedly exploited the situation to target the bureaucrats and politicians known to be close to Shekhawat. The worst happened when Raje, justifiably, offered Shekhawat's son-in-law Narpat Singh Rajvi, the state industries minister, the additional charge of the low-profile labour portfolio. Raje's intentions were genuine: to bring conflicting departments such as forest and mining and industries and labour under one person. But she had to revoke the decision when Rajvi refused the new assignment saying it was impractical. By then, the damage was done. Shekhawat's men felt they were being sidelined and their leader ignored.

Not surprisingly, some of Raje's most recent appointments since were intended to please Shekhawat. She has named Sunil Arora, who had returned from his assignment as CMD of Indian Airlines, as her secretary. He had held the same position during Shekhawat's tenure. She has dumped many advisers disliked by Shekhawat's camp.

Raje has earned the displeasure of some of her colleagues in the party in Delhi, including general secretaries Pramod Mahajan and Arun Jaitley. Mahajan is piqued at the fact that she has distanced herself from his man Friday Sudhanshu Mittal under pressure from Shekhawat loyalists, who were opposed to Mittal wielding influence. The latest Raje favourites on the hit list of Shekhawat's men are Chandra Raj Singhvi, who heads the 20-point Programme Implementation Committee and holds cabinet rank, and industrialist Lalit Modi. Singhvi has been blamed by Shekhawat's followers for creating a wedge between Raje and the vice-president. A section of her own loyalists is also gunning for Singhvi's scalp. On his part, Singhvi says, "Since my critics have failed to find any evidence of corruption against me, they have brought up Shekhawat's name to pin me down." Jaitley believes that Raje has gone out of her way to help Modi take control of the Rajasthan Cricket Association. The Modi camp accuses Singhvi of targeting him so as to save himself from any trouble.

But things don't end there. It won't be easy for Raje to retain her recent team as also maintain or strengthen equations with Shekhawat given the manner in which she has lost some of her confidants. Considering that her close aides have been attacked systematically, problems will persist. The only one left in her company now is Satya Narain Gupta, a chartered accountant from Jhalawar, who has already been made a target for holding two posts. Gupta, state BJP vice-president, also heads the Grievances Redressal Committee. His critics want him to hold only one post. More trouble awaits Raje in the political ambitions of Lalit Kishore Chaturvedi, BJP state president and Ram Das Aggarwal, former president who has just ended a self-imposed two-year exile from state politics.

"Since her current aides failed to deliver at a required level, she has turned to Shekhawat for advice," says Sunil Bhargav, a senior state BJP leader. Raje finds nothing unusual in her recent moves. "There has never been any problem between me and the vice-president," says Raje. "It is just that I had been settling down in a new house," she adds. She says that some people always "hope to create differences among people so as to circulate stories of gossip". But Congress MLA C.S. Baid differs: "Raje feels very insecure. And with Shekhawat's experience and his proximity to the media, she finds it difficult to go ahead by ignoring him."

So, where does this leave Raje? Some political analysts say the BJP leadership will have to assure her of her continuity at the helm and also make public statements on it if it wants Raje to focus on governance and picking talented people and grooming them in bureaucracy and politics. She has a political minnow's habit of treating sensitive and controversial issues as personal challenges, they say. Ever since Raje was criticised for delaying her visit to the victims of firing during an agitation at Gharsana in Shri Ganganagar in 2004, she has become hyperactive. Last month, she was quick to visit the families of those who were killed in the police firing in another agitation over water at Tonk. "I was advised not to visit Gharsana. But I visited Tonk and it worked so well," she says.

Raje's loyalists feel that she has to be on guard also against the danger of becoming controversial or getting embroiled in scandals. Her task becomes all the more crucial as she deals with builders, developers and investors whom she has successfully attracted to the state, presenting Rajasthan as financially sound by getting rid of its deficits. In these tough times, it is indeed wise on her part to have Shekhawat on her side by dissociating from some of her own men. But in governance, she cannot afford to be a copycat.

Moreover, Raje's ideas are too adventurous for the conservative Rajasthan. She did not hesitate to sanction Rs 15 crore as the first instalment to build the chief minister's secretariat as her current office doesn't conform to the concept of her personal astrologers and Vaastu experts. She has already earmarked another Rs 10 crore for renovating the secretariat.

Unlike her predecessors, Raje is a modern woman with few hang-ups. That is why Shekhawat may have been pleased with her visit. "But he has not blessed her yet," says a Shekhawat loyalist. The fact that she has made the right gestures to show that she is treating the former chief minister with due respect may endear her to his camp. If that happens, Raje will find the going easier than she had expected.

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