Rajyavardhan Rathore greeted with black flags on first campaign outing in Rajasthan's Jhotwara

Jaipur: BJP's Jaipur Rural MP Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore was shown black flags by supporters of an overlooked ticket-seeker from his party as he started his campaign in the Jhotwara assembly constituency.

According to a video of the incident that surfaced on social media on Monday, Rathore was shown black flags in Jobner by Rajpal Singh Shekhawat's supporters who confronted him with slogans 'Colonel kehna maan le, boria bistar bandh le (Colonel, follow our advice, pack your bags and return)' and 'Jhotwara me ek hi naam, Rajpal, Rajpal.' Rathore tried to pacify the protesters by offering them sweets but they refused to be placated and continued with their sloganeering.

Shekhawat had earlier represented the Jhotwara assembly constituency and contested unsuccessfully in the 2018 assembly elections. He was also a cabinet minister in former CM Vasundhara Raje government.

Assembly polls are slated on November 25 in the state. BJP has declared a list of 41 candidates so far out of total of 200 assembly seats.

The party has fielded MP Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore from Jhotwara assembly seat.

Rathore, a former Union minister, launched his campaign from Jharkhan Mahadev temple in Vaishali Nagar area here.

'I will serve the constituency till my last breath. It is a pledge by an army officer, an Olympian, and a team member of PM Modi. Rajasthan is my motherland and now it is also my field of action,' Rathore told reporters.

Soon after Rathore launched his election campaign, Lokesh Sharma, OSD to Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot, asked Rathore to make public work done by him for the people of Jhotwara as an MP.

'Instead of talking such big things, MP-turned-MLA candidate Rajyavardhan Rathore should have kept his report card among the public. Jhotwara is not in any foreign country, it is a part of their parliamentary constituency. What did Rathore ji do for the area for so many years, where is that Amrit Kal? And 5 years ago your own party's MLAs were from here,' Sharma said on X.