Jal Shakti Minister Gajendra Shekhawat surprised us with a revelation that he didn’t enter any BJP office till 2013, after winning a student’s union poll backed by BJP’s students arm ABVP in Jodhpur in 1993.
Members of his family have a connect with water, a scarce commodity in Rajasthan. His father was an employee in the state’s department responsible for the supply of water. His daughter is India’s top river rafter.
Unlike most politicians, he admitted that caste plays a role in the nomination of a candidate and in voter preferences. He also didn’t dismiss the possibility of anti-incumbency against him but sounded confident of a win despite large parts of the state battling thirst.