Congress prepares for celebration
Sure of a victory in the assembly elections, Congress leaders started reaching Jaipur on Monday evening, a day before the counting of votes in Rajasthan.
With a majority of exit polls predicting a comfortable victory for the party in the elections, leaders and members were busy holding discussions at the state party office.
A temporary war room setup in the office was removed from the meeting hall located on the first floor, which would be used to hold legislators meeting after the counting of votes.
A senior leader who did not want to be named, said Congress state president Sachin Pilot, former chief minister Ashok Gehlot, AICC general secretary Avinash Pande and four secretaries would reach Jaipur from Delhi. He added that the leaders would be present at the party office, while the results are declared on Tuesday.
A state Congress general secretary on condition of anonymity said: “We are all prepared for the celebrations on Tuesday and have ordered sweets, fireworks and gulal (colours).”
Senior leaders, including Gehlot and Pilot, have given their feedback to AICC president Rahul Gandhi and UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi. Gandhi has also been briefed by party leaders who have been involved in election campaign on their assessment of the probable outcome of the elections. A group of leaders and workers inside the party office were seen holding intense discussions. “It’s the number of seats that will decide the chief minister in Rajasthan,” said one of the leaders on condition of anonymity. Another local leader countered the claim saying ticket distribution and MLAs’ opinion would matter as well.
All eyes are on party big wigs, including state Congress president Sachin Pilot, former CM Gehlot, CP Joshi, Girija Vyas, MP Raghu Sharma, Harish Meena and Karan Singh Yadav, Shanti Dhariwal, Bharat Singh, Mahendra Jeet Singh Malviya, leader of opposition Rameshwar Dudi, Deependra Singh, Ramesh Meena, BD Kalla and Manvendra Singh.
Drowned in Modi (PM Narendra Modi) wave, the Congress in Rajasthan won just 21 seats in the 2013 assembly polls, while the BJP won 163. However in the bypolls earlier this year, the grand old party won four assembly seats and two Lok Sabha seats – Ajmer and Alwar.
There was unanimity among the Congress leaders that their party will get a mandate in these elections and get minimum seats from 105 to 125.
The Congress had lost twice in a row in about 65 assembly constituencies in 2008 (when the Congress won 96 seats) and 2013 assembly elections. Looking at 2003 assembly results, the number comes down to about 30 seats, indicating that these segments are one where the BJP most confident to win.
Some of the seats where the Congress has not tasted victory since 2003 are Ajmer North and South, Beawar, Vidhyadhar Nagar, Phulera, Sanganer, Udaipur, Pratapgarh, Rajsamand, Nagaur, Jhalarapatan, Khanpur, Bhilwara, Ramganj Mandi, Bayana, Jaisalmer, Parbatsar, Bali and Pali.
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