Selection of candidates poses a tough challenge to the ruling party.
NEW DELHI
After the announcement of elections, the challenges of the Congress seem to be increasing in Rajasthan. The high command is also said to be worried. Amidst all this, selection of candidates is also a ticklish task.
If sources are to be believed, in the survey conducted by Rahul Gandhi’s team, the position of most of the current ministers and MLAs is weak. The biggest concern of the party is why this situation has arisen despite all the public welfare schemes of Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot. Women’s safety and paper leak issues being raised by BJP is also a cause of concern for Congress.
There is no doubt that BJP is trying to woo women and young voters. In view of this, Congress may now have to make a different strategy. For example, to woo the voters of 13 districts of East Rajasthan, Congress is going to organize a yatra from October 16, making the East Rajasthan Canal Project the main issue. This is being considered a part of the new strategy. Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge and senior leader Priyanka Gandhi will also participate in this yatra on different days.
Similarly, there will be different issues in different divisions. Priyanka Gandhi’s announcement of giving free education allowance to children up to 12th class in Madhya Pradesh is an election gambit that she can play in Rajasthan also. In order to repeat the government in Rajasthan, Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot has made many such announcements and decisions in the last two years which are discussed in the entire country. Among these, schemes like restoration of the old pension scheme and Chiranjeevi Swasthya yojana are prominent.
Not only this, Chief Minister Gehlot, on the lines of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, made his face and image the main ‘weapon’ of the campaign in Rajasthan. A private agency, which is now embroiled in controversies, played an important role in this work. No anti-incumbency is there against the government and Chief Minister Gehlot. Due to this, even today, Chief Minister Gehlot has a huge lead over all the prominent leaders of the state in terms of popularity. But even after this, it is surprising that the Congress campaign is unable to create a wave in Rajasthan. There was a tremendous wave in the case of Prime Minister Modi and Delhi Chief Minister Kejriwal.
Experts believe that Prime Minister Modi is successful in giving the message that the party is with him by directly linking his image with the party’s election symbol lotus. Kejriwal also manages to link his image with the party symbol broom. But in Rajasthan, the party was neglected by the publicity company. This widened the distance between the government and the organization.
The real crisis that Rajasthan Congress faced has been “factionalism” for the entire five years. Congress’s new high command Mallikarjun Kharge and former state president Rahul Gandhi showed strength to end factionalism only when the party had suffered huge losses. After that Sachin Pilot and his supporters calmed down. The high command again made a mistake. The organization remained neglected.
Due to the limited role of the organization and the party in the campaign, Congress failed to create an atmosphere in favour of the government. The private agency which was handling the responsibility of the campaign also gave less importance to the party and the organization. BJP tried to capitalise on resentment within the Congress. Moreover, the government’s schemes were not publicized in the way they should have been. The party and the organization also did not take much interest in promoting the schemes after the publicity agency came into picture.
Now this internal situation seems to be affecting the distribution of tickets. The party was supposed to release the list in the first week of September and October. But this did not happen. Now a tussle is going on for the candidates who might be in the winning position. If there is a consensus in the meeting of the scrutiny committee soon, then a list may come after 18. But in the survey conducted by Delhi, the position of all the ministers except four-five ministers is said to be poor. More or less, the report about MLAs is also the same. On one hand, the BJP is creating an atmosphere by doing new experiments. In the first list, half a dozen MPs have been fielded. However, the first list of BJP sparked controversy, which Congress is considering beneficial for itself. But the powerful central leadership of BJP will calm this controversy by the time the first list of Congress comes.
The problem of Congress is that if it drops sitting MLAs, then who will be fielded in place of them? No other strong contender was allowed to emerge in constituencies due to internal politics. What to do with the leaders who adopt a rebellious attitude? All the observers appointed by the party in Rajasthan have the same report saying that half the sitting legislators need to be dropped. Tainted and controversial leaders should also be kept away from elections. If most prominent leaders are denied tickets then the opposition will get a chance to attack and the rebels will join the fray. The situation is such that many leaders are trying to change their seats. One prominent minister among them is Lalchand Kataria.
He has been a minister at the Centre. He has been a minister in the state for five years. He is not confident that he will win from his current Jotwada seat. Therefore, he is looking for a safe seat. BJP will field heavyweights against key Congress ministers. The saffron party has also made corruption, paper leak and women’s safety the main electoral issues. ED is conducting raids in paper leaks cases. The link of this case is reaching the leaders associated with Congress. Congress leader Sachin Pilot himself has raised questions on his government in the paper leak case. Along with this, Congress has no concrete answer to the issue of women’s safety.
These are emotional issues that can directly impact the public sentiments. The BJP spokesperson does not miss the opportunity to attack senior ministers Shanti Dhariwal and Mahesh Joshi while raising the issue of women’s safety. Both ministers are seeking tickets. Mahesh Joshi is seeking a ticket for himself and Dhariwal for his son. The high command is in no mood to give tickets to them. The controversy over the appointment of three members of RPSC has also tarnished Congress’ image. However, Chief Minister Gehlot made it clear that appointments have been made on the basis of integrity and merit without any favour. Rahul Gandhi will also not give tickets to tainted and controversial leaders. Secondly, he is also against changing seats. Reports about Congress MLAs are not good. Now the Congress’ hopes rest on the image and plans of Chief Minister Gehlot.