The election campaign has picked up in Rajasthan after November 22 was marked as the last date for nominations withdrawal. Polls for this assembly will be held on December 7. From here on, the role of candidates to convince voters has become very important.
There has been a feeling that Congress created a mess in ticket distribution and this job should have been left to either Congress candidate Sachin Pilot or senior Congress leader Ashok Gehlot.
While the two maintained silence over internal conflicts, leader of the opposition, Rameshwar Duddi, made his anger apparent twice. First, he went on to announce that he wouldn't contest poll after KL Jhanwar, who just joined Congress and gave a ticket at his behest, was removed and veteran leader BD Kalla was given it.
Jhanwar was a strong rival of Duddi, and the party ultimately accommodated Jhanwar at another seat to ensure that Duddi doesn't lose. The party faces flak for giving tickets to defectors because AICC president Rahul Gandhi had repeatedly assured Congress workers that no such parachute candidate was to be given a ticket.
Some Congressmen feel let down as Congress could have got a majority even without giving tickets to such candidates. Congress played the minority card well by giving tickets to 15 Muslims, a move detested at places.
The BJP has been fighting this by reaching out to voters. Amit Shah, party president and Vasundhara Raje, chief minister, interacted with lakhs of youth through video conferencing telling them how the government worked and if some have not received any benefit, they must demand it.
The Raje-BJP policies have been good. That's why Gehlot declared that if his party comes to power, he will not abolish BJP's welfare schemes. BJP also expects that the mess created in Congress' distribution of tickets has made people talk about the selection of candidates instead of against BJP government.
The party also hopes a swing once prime minister Narendra Modi and Shah get going in the state, along with UP CM Yogi Adityanath. BJP is hopeful that its cadre will be able to bring it back to the power given any loss now will negatively affect Modi's chance to become PM again. Congress has already worked out its strategy by refusing to bring Rahul Gandhi against Modi. Instead, they'll be stepping up attack against Raje to keep fuelling anti-incumbency.
Pilot steps up attack
Meanwhile, Congress candidate Sachin Pilot has stepped up his attack against the BJP by releasing a chargesheet. Pilot accused them of damaging state finances and MNREGA, failure on crime including against women, and not acting against corrupt bureaucrats. Pilot stated that Congress would probe alleged wrongdoing and act against officials who were part of it. He mentioned that he has questioned Raje during her Suraj Gaurav Yatra, but she has not answered anyone.
Religious rivalry takes centre stage
There are some seats that everyone is talking about with Rajputs candidates fielded to play spoiler. BJP again has given more tickets to Rajputs whereas Congress has distributed seats almost equally between Rajputs and Muslims, thus annoying Rajputs.
After Congress fielded Manvendra Singh, who defected from BJP to Congress recently against Raje from Jhalrapattan, the contest has become interesting. This is also personal, as Singh had issues with Raje, and he has questioned why people should elect a non-Rajasthani.
Jhalawar, Baran, Kota and Bundi. Ex-CM Ashok Gehlot contests from Sardarpura in Jodhpur, and he faces Shambhu Singh Khetasar, a Rajput who lost to him in 2013. Like Raje, Gehlot is also likely to win comfortably, and he is accusing Raje of ignoring his constituency during the past five years.
The most interesting contest though has been between Congress' Sachin Pilot and Yunus Khan, the only Muslim candidate fielded by BJP in the state from Tonk.
