BJP aims to buck Rajasthan trend after bypoll scare
JAIPUR: Rajasthan has alternated between the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Congress in the last five assembly elections. Voters here haven’t elected the same party to power for two terms in a row. This is the Congress’s biggest advantage and BJP’S biggest challenge in this year’s assembly elections.
The Congress is upbeat over its victories in recent bypolls to two Loksabha—alwarand Ajmer — and one assembly (Mandalgarh) seats — all held by the BJP.
The Congress hopes to carry the momentum into the state polls riding on anti-incumbency sentiment. However, it also faces a leadership challenge as people are unclear about who will lead the government if the party is voted to power. While state Congress chief Sachin Pilot is being credited for the party’s bypoll victories, former chief minister Ashok Gehlot enjoys mass popularity. The party hasn’t named a chief ministerial face.
The BJP won a record 163 seats in the 200-member assembly in 2013 elections. It, however, is facing unrest among its workers and traditional vote banks such as the Rajputs and the Gujjars. Party cadres feel ignored, claiming that chief minister Vasundhara Raje remained inaccessible to them.
After the bypoll losses, Raje started an outreach initiative and travelled across the state, first holding public meetings at different locations and then launching the Rajasthan Gaurav Yatra to showcase the work done by her government. Rajasthan was also high on the agenda of BJP president Amit Shah, who held several meetings with party workers.
Though the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) has announced that it will contest all seats in Rajasthan, non-congress, non-bjp parties have never got more than 10% of the votes.
Former faculty member of the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad, Manohar Lal Yadav said the BJP knows that its electoral prospects are not too good in Rajasthan. “It needs more time to campaign; that is why probably the polling in Rajasthan has been kept to the last and there’s a gap of nine days between voting in MP and Rajasthan,” he said.
FARM CRISIS
Rajasthan, for the first time, witnessed suicides by farmers following crop failure and low costs for the produce in the local markets. Farmers protested in several parts of the state and the police used force against them in some places.
CASTE CONUNDRUM
Four communities — Gujjars, Jats, Meenas and Rajputs —who together can decide who’ll form next government, have flexed muscle before the polls, making several demands.
MAIN PLAYERS
Chief minister Vasundhara Raje is leading the Bharatiya Janata Party. She, however, faces people’s anger. It will also be interesting to see if Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, MP from Jodhpur and party’s convenor of the election management committee, can pull out a trick or two .
For Congress, former CM Ashok Gehlot remains the most popular face but at the same time state party chief Sachin Pilot is credited with steering the Congress to three major bypoll victories in February this year.