After ‘royal’ pressure increases, Jaipur Development Authority unseals palace hotel gates

Our Correspondent

Jaipur, September 4

Jaipur Development Authority unsealed Raj Mahal Palace heritage hotel’s entry on Sunday, a day the BJP stepped in to resolve the tussle between the body and the royal family over a piece of land.

The relief however is believed to be temporary: the family has been asked to have another pathway made to the hotel. The authority sealed the gate claiming ownership after it acquired public land near the hotel on August 24.

The gate was opened despite police barricades on Sunday morning, although policemen remained stationed there.

A four-member committee comprising BJP state President Ashok Parnami, three cabinet ministers Rajpal Singh Shekhawat, Rajendra Rathore, and Gajendra Singh Kheenvsar recommended to the Chief Minister that the hotel gate should be temporarily unsealed after the authority’s move to seal the land led to protests.     

Rajmata Padmini Devi, wife of former ruler Brigadier Bhawani Singh, said: "As I said earlier too, CM is ours, Government is ours. She (Raje) has listened to me. I am satisfied. Now everything will be all right".

Rajputs had threatened to call for a shutdown citywide, even statewide, shutdown to protest the sealing of the gate. 

The land row and subsequent protests prompted separate meetings between Padmini Devi’s family and BJP’s senior leader Saudan Singh, Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje and BJP MLA Diya Kumari on Friday evening.