Water crisis, poor road infra irk locals
2019
DAUSA: Located in the heart of Rajasthan’s Dhundhar region, Dausa boasts of being home to the princely clan of Kachhwahas and the home town of former state chief minister Tika Ram Paliwal.
The constituency, around 55 kilometers away from the state capital Jaipur, which was earlier considered a stronghold of the famous Pilot family, after 2009 swayed its votes in favour of the Bharatiya Janata Party. Despite the changing political scenario in Dausa, the civic issues which the residents have been raising, including water crisis, poor road connectivity etc, continue to mar the area.
The constituency comprises 1,524,095 voters, of whom 814,648 are men and 709,447 are women, according to the Election Commission data. Around 65,918 fresh voters will also cast their votes for the first time in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.
Dausa comprising majorly of the tribal members from the Meena community, followed by Gurjars, other Scheduled Caste communities, and the Rajputs, was reserved for the Scheduled Tribes (ST) following a delimitation of the parliamentary constituencies in 2009.
Till the delimitation took place, the seat remained a stronghold of the Congress that won from here eight times. Of
Kirodi Lal Meena
Harish Meena
Jaskaur Meena the eight times, the former Union minister and senior Congress leader Rajesh Pilot bagged the seat six times while his son Sachin Pilot was also elected as the youngest MP at 26 years of age in 2004.
After 2009,however, the BJP maintained their victory streak in Dausa in all three consecutive general elections. According to the political experts, the result can also be viewed as the
(63), Congress
(69), BJP rise of the BJP’s prominent tribal leader and incumbent state agriculture minister Kirodi Lal Meena who won the seat for the first time in the same year as an independent candidate. Of the eight assembly segments of Dausa, the BJP won five seats such as Chaksu, Bandikui, Mahuwa, Sikarai, and Lalsot while the Congress bagged only three— Bassi, Thanagazi, and Dausa.
Rajasthan’s 25 seats will go to Lok Sabha elections in two phases. In 2019, sitting MP, Jaskaur Meena (76), entered Dausa’s political arena as a prominent tribal leader.
Meena had earlier remained a two-time MP from Sawai Madhopur and also a Union minister in Atal Bihari Vajpayee-led cabinet at Centre in 2003.
She defeated the Congress opponent Savita Meena, the wife of the then Congress minister in Rajasthan, Murari Lal Meena, by a margin of 7% votes.
Her candidature revived hope in the people that she would resolve the people’s long- time demands and address their issues. However, the area is still plagued by severe water crisis, and poor road connectivity.
A resident Mahendra Meena, said, “The people have been facing water crisis for a long time. The BJP MP didn’t do anything to solve the issue. People in rural areas are still struggling for water. Murari Lal Meena when he was the state minister during the Congress government performed better than her”.However, MP Meena said: “The BJP government provided Mumbai-Delhi national highway, which also connects Dausa. Water under the Jal Jeevan Mission is released to each house. Not only this, the road connectivity was also improved.” The BJP, however, didn’t go with Jaskaur Meena for the Lok Sabha elections and instead fielded four-time MLA from Bassi Kanhaiya Lal Meena from the Dausa (ST). He will be squaring off against Congress candidate Murari Lal Meena who has also remained a state minister twice in 2008 and 2018. Murari Meena, who started his electoral career as a member of the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) in 2003, had won the Dausa assembly seat in the last state polls in December, defeating BJP’s Shankar Lal Sharma by a margin of 17% votes. Exuding confidence, he said, “All the development works in the state have been carried out by the Congress government, particularly the public welfare schemes for the poor. The new BJP government is not doing anything but closing those schemes. Their MPs, in the last 10 years, have also failed to address any of the people’s issue such as inflation, unemployment, water scarcity etc. Congress will surely win from here by a huge margin this time.” BJP candidate Kanhaiya Lal Meena maintained that he will win the election banking on Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s development works. “People have faith in his double-engine government. The development works that he did for Rajasthan during his terms relived the people in many ways. I am thankful that the party has given me this opportunity. BJP will win the 25 Lok Sabha seats from the state once again in 2024.”
Political expert Santosh Tiwari said: The Congress candidate Murari Lal Meena has been more active (in the area) compared to the BJP candidate Kanhaiya Lal Meena. Murari Lal Meena is also the sitting MLA and has remained a minister. Both leaders have much political experience. Gurjar voters are likely to support the Congress. The BJP is contesting only on Modi’s guarantees.”