Rajasthan: Cong picks new faces in 3rd and 4th lists, BJP woos Rajputs
JAIPUR: The Congress announced its third and fourth lists for Rajasthan on Sunday while the Bharatiya Janata Party released its fourth list of 24 candidates.
The BJP gave the high-profile Sanganer seat to Jaipur mayor Ashok Lahoty. In a counter to Congress’ move of fielding rebel BJP leader Manvendra Singh against chief minister Vasundhara Raje in Jhalrapatan, the BJP brought in a former Kota royal family who were earlier loyal to the Congress. The BJP fielded Kalpana Singh, wife of former Congress MP Ijyaraj Singh, from Ladpura in a move that experts said was also aimed at consolidating its Rajput vote bank by giving the ticket to a prominent family from the community.
Three other Congress leaders who joined the Bharatiya Janata Party on Sunday were also given tickets. Sitting MLAS were dropped on seven seats while 17 new faces were fielded. With this, the Bharatiya Janata Party has announced candidates for 194 of the state’s 200 assembly seats. Rajasthan goes to the polls on December 7.
In its third list, the Congress, which is looking to snatch power from the BJP, gave three seats each to Sharad Yadav’s Loktantrik Janata Dal (LJD) and Ajit Singh’s Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD), and one seat to Sharad Pawar’s Nationalist Congress Party (NCP). In its fourth list, the party changed two candidates declared earlier and announced one new candidate.
With Sunday’s list, the party has released the names of candidates for all 200 seats. In all, 113 new faces have been announced.
In its third list, the party fielded two former ministers and denied a ticket to one former minister.
The Congress changed its candidates on Bikaner (East), Bikaner (West) and Kesoraipatan seats, accommodating former minister and former Rajasthan Congress president BD Kalla in Bikaner (West). The party also fielded Alwar MP Karan Singh Yadav from Kishangarh Bas. Yadav won the parliamentary by-election in February this year.
In its fourth list, the Congress changed its candidate on Bikaner (East) and Mavli seats while announcing a new face, Ajay Bohra, from Mahuwa. The list had seven new faces.