FOUR DAYS TO BYPOLLS, RAJ CONG TOP GUNS IN MAHA

Although it's just four days left to go for Rajasthan Assembly bypolls to be held on October 21 on two seats namely Mandava and Khinvsar, chief Minister Ashok Gehlot and deputy Chief Minister Sachin Pilot have been given the task of campaigning in Maharashtra for Assembly polls there.

While Gehlot went to Mumbai on Tuesday, Pilot also went to Maharashtra on Wednesday leaving the Congress workers in a tizzy as to who should lead the campaign on these two seats with just two days left for the full campaigning to end.

A senior Congress worker speaking to IANS said, "Both the leaders, one heading Congress and one heading state, have not organised a single election rally for bypolls. They seem to be shying away from direct campaigning on these two seats fearing a major loss. In such a scenario, they will again exchange allegations for the loss. Surprisingly, even the Congress high command did not ask them to campaign on local seats," he said.

However, state Education Minister Govind Dotasara told IANS, "Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot and Deputy chief minister Sachin Pilot will visit Jhunjhunu on October 18 to pay tributes to Ram Narayan Chaudhary, father of Congress candidate Rita Chaudhary, who was a senior Congress worker. This shall solve two purposes; while Congress leaders shall pay tributes to Chaudhary, they shall also address an election rally in Mandava. This is a Jat dominated belt and as the two seats where elections are scheduled are Jat dominated, it shall make a win win situation for us," he said adding, "we shall win both the seats."

When asked if any senior leader had campaigned earlier in Mandava, he said, "This shall be the first rally of CM and deputy CM in Mandava. However, they went to Khinvsar during the nomination filing process of Congress candidate Harendra Mirdha. Meanwhile, we are looking into campaigning and working hard to ensure we come out winner in these elections."