Big Cong names fail home test in Rajasthan

Senior Congress leader and former chief minister Ashok Gehlot used to chide young party leaders publicly for demanding ticket for not having grip in their areas.

“People in your colony don’t know and listen to you but you want tickets and posts,” he used to say. The same words could be said to him as the BJP candidate won more votes in Gehlot’s constituency than the Congress candi- date.

Not surprisingly, for the second time in the history, the Congress has lost all seats in Rajasthan. However, more embarrassing is the fact that it’s so called stalwarts have not been able to protect their backyards.

In fact, the party lost in the colony where its leaders reside. The sitting Congress MP in Jaipur Mahesh Joshi whose defeat margin is third highest in the country, had failed to get lead for the party candidate in his ward during state elections and now he suffered the ignominy of losing the booth where he lives.

Similarly, C. P. Joshi, AICC general- secretary and Rahul Gandhi’s point man in Rajasthan, could not ensure lead for the party candidate in Malviya Nagar where he lives.

Of the eight Congress candidates in Assembly elections only two managed to win the booths in which they live.

Bringing young and suave Sachin Pilot too could not stop decline as vote share plummeted by 16 per cent compared to last Lok Sabha election. The BJP increased its vote share by 19 per cent than last Lok Sabha election.

If that is not enough, on 20 seats, the party has lost by over two lakh votes. It came third on three seats and one candidate lost deposit. Last time only 10 candidates had won by more than two lakhs.

What more, the Congress had trailed in 179 Assembly segments out of 200 in December 2013 polls, but in Lok Sabha this tally increased 189. The true perspective of BJP’s historic win can be assessed by the fact that it has rested Jhunjhunu seat from the Congress for the first time in more than 60 years.

In fact, even during the nationwide anti- congress mood post emergency in 1977, the Congress had managed to win at least one seat and in 1989, it though it had lost all seats but against an alliance however, now it lost directly to the BJP.