JaipurSeptember 30, 2025 08:00 AM IST
First published on: Sep 30, 2025 at 08:00 AM IST
LAYING low since Bhajan Lal Sharma was picked by the BJP top brass as Rajasthan Chief Minister, in a surprise decision in 2023, former CM Vasundhara Raje has seemingly come “out of exile”. Recent meetings she has held with top BJP-RSS leaders have triggered speculation about her “political comeback”.
With a reshuffle of the state Cabinet looming, BJP insiders claim Raje’s hectic parleys are aimed at ensuring berths for her loyalists. “With voices of dissent from MLAs rising as the Sharma government’s image has taken a beating, the party is trying to accommodate Raje loyalists like Malviya Nagar MLA Kalicharan Saraf and Nimbahera legislator Shrichand Kriplani in the Cabinet. Her meetings with the BJP’s central leadership are in this regard,” a source said.
During the recently concluded Monsoon Session of Parliament, the former CM also met Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah in New Delhi.
However, another insider brushed aside rumours of a big shake-up in the Cabinet reshuffle — which, according to state BJP president Madan Rathore, is set to happen anytime now as the Monsoon Session of the Assembly session has ended. “Sharma is Modi and Shah’s choice and he will continue. He follows Delhi’s directions without question. However, Raje may be considered for a national role,” the source said.
What has been most talked about is Raje’s almost 30-minute meeting with RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat during his visit to Jodhpur earlier this month for the All India Coordination meeting of the Sangh. Following that meeting, sources said, the former CM also met top RSS leaders in Nagpur.
Raje never had an easy relationship with the Modi-led dispensation, and this got worse after Sharma, a first-time MLA, was picked by the BJP for CM. Having expectations of returning to the CM’s post, a miffed Raje skipped party meetings and did not campaign for the seven Assembly bypolls in the state or last year’s Haryana Assembly polls, despite being named a BJP star campaigner.
In what was seen as her first intent of making a “comeback,” Raje met all party MLAs following the BJP’s bypoll victory in five of the seven seats.
Last month, she put out a cryptic message. “Vanvaas sirf Shri Ram ki zindagi ka hissa nahin hai… Har insaan ke jeevan mein vanvaas aata hai aur jata bhi hai (Exile was not part of only Lord Ram’s life. Everyone goes through it, but it also ends)… Nothing in the world is permanent. Whatever comes will also go,” she said while addressing a gathering in Dholpur on August 30.
While many saw her message as reassurance to her supporters, others interpreted it as a signal that “anything can happen in politics”.
Raje’s name also did the rounds in some circles as the country’s new vice-president following the “sudden” resignation of Jagdeep Dhankhar in July. But the post went to C P Radhakrishnan.
With the BJP yet to finalise its replacement for incumbent national president J P Nadda, her supporters are speculating that Raje may throw her hat in the ring. However, others say what is more likely is her lobbying for a Union Cabinet berth for her son and Jhalawar-Baran MP Dushyant Singh.