In Rajasthan, Congress to assign areas of responsibility to top leaders

New Delhi: Out of power in Rajasthan, the Congress high command is expected to assign areas of responsibilities to its top leaders in the state for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections in a plan that also aims to bring together its faction-ridden state unit.

In a screening committee meeting on March 6 to shortlist candidates for Rajasthan, both former chief minister Ashok Gehlot and former deputy chief minister Sachin Pilot were present. The list of possible candidates would be taken up at the party’s central election committee meeting on Monday.

But even before the poll panel decides the 25 candidates for Rajasthan, the top leadership has started assigning the responsibility of districts to leaders. Under the plan, Gehlot will be in- charge of election management in Jodhpur, Nagaur, Bikaner and Pali districts. Pilot, who left the Gehlot cabinet in 2020, will handle Dausa, Tonk and Dhaulpur districts.

State unit chief Govind Singh Dotasra is set to be given responsibilities of Sikar and Jaipur districts. Former assembly speaker CP Joshi has been assigned responsibilities of Udaipur, Rajasmand and Bhilwara districts.

“Our responsibilities would include intensive campaigning for the party candidates, devising strategies for the area and mobilising the supporters and the voters,” said one of the leaders who declined to be named.

On Monday, the party’s election committee is expected to decide the candidates of Rajasthan, Goa, Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh, among other states.

For the past 10 years, Lok Sabha elections in Rajasthan had been a big challenge for the Congress. In both 2014 and 2019, it failed to win a single seat in the state and the National Democratic Alliance led by the Bharatiya Janata Party bagged all the 25 Lok Sabha seats in both the general elections.

While the BJP won 25 of 25 seats in 2014, one of its allies, Hanuman Beniwal of Rashtriya Loktantrik Party, won a seat in 2019.

Rajasthan, Gujarat, Arunachal Pradesh, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Tripura, Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh are among the states where the BJP swept the seats. In Delhi, a Union territory, the BJP bagged all seven seats.

Even as the party is in power in three states, Congress strategists point out how it has lost vital ground in north India as it conceded defeat to the BJP in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh last year. This electoral loss in assembly polls has created a larger problem for the largest opposition party: It has faltered when it needed to drastically improve its strike rate against the BJP.

“The biggest problem for the opposition is that the Congress is not able to grow in states where it faces the BJP. In other areas, it plays a second fiddle to strong regional parties,” a non-Congress leader said, seeking anonymity.

For the past two years, a number of Congress strategists had pointed to this factor during internal meetings. “Our focus has remained on improving our strike rate in north India. If only we can expand our presence in north India, we have a better chance to tackle the BJP nationally,” said another Congress leader.

In north India, the Congress now has only one chief minister, Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu in Himachal Pradesh. It is also in power in Karnataka and Telangana.