Jaipur, March 18 (IANS) As the election dates have been announced for the Lok Sabha polls, there are seven seats in Rajasthan that are being discussed animatedly as the Congress and the BJP have fielded their stalwarts here.
While the BJP has so far announced candidates for 15 seats, the Congress has fielded candidates for 10 seats. Overall, there are 25 Parliamentary constituencies in the state
The names of the remaining candidates are eagerly awaited. The BJP has called its core group committee meeting in Delhi on Monday while the Congress’ next list is also expected soon.
Amidst all these developments, the most talked about seat in the state is Churu where the BJP has fielded Paralympic Devendra Jhajharia against the Congress’ Rahul Kaswan. Kaswan is an ex-BJP MP who left the saffron party after being denied a LS ticket.
For Jhajhariya, these elections mark a fresh innings for him. Now, the seat has become a prestige issue for the BJP as well as the Congress.
Another seat is Bikaner where it is a Meghwal Vs Meghwal contest.
The BJP has again fielded Arjun Meghwal, who has been a MP for two consecutive terms, and is the Union law minister while also being a strong Dalit face of the state. The Congress has fielded Govind Meghwal, who was a cabinet minister in the Ashok Gehlot government in the state. He is counted among the big Dalit leaders of the Rajasthan Congress. This has made the fight interesting here.
A third seat is that of Jodhpur where the BJP has fielded Gajendra Singh Shekhawat against the Congress’ Karan Singh Uchiarada. It is Rajput Vs Rajput here.
The BJP has retained its trust in Shekhawat, a trusted face of the psrty’s central leadership, for the third time. Jodhpur is the home constituency of former CM Ashok Gehlot, however the Congress has fielded a Pilot loyalist Karan Singh Uchiarada against Shekhawat. Karan Singh has worked in different positions in the Congress. This contest between two Rajput leaders is being watched by the voters with keen interest.
The next seat is Chhittorgarh where BJP state president CP Joshi has been fielded against the Congress’ former state minister Udailal Anjana.
The BJP won the assembly elections under Joshi’s tenure as the state BJP chief who is the MP from Chhittorgarh as well. Being the home turf of the state BJP chief is what makes this seat crucial. Joshi’s differences with Chittorgarh MLA Chandrabhan Singh Akya is an open secret now. Akya left the BJP after being denied a ticket and contested the assembly polls as an Independent and won. Since then, he has verbally attacked Joshi for playing a key role in the denial of a ticket to him. There were discussions if Akya preferred to contest the LS polls against Joshi again. However on Sunday, Chief Minister Bhajan Lal Sharma played an intermediary role and helped the two leaders to patch up, making things easy for the BJP.
The Congress has placed its bets on Udailal Anjana, who was a cabinet minister in the Gehlot government, to counter Joshi. Anjana has also been a MP from this area. So it’s a fight between a former Congress MP and BJP MP.
Another interesting fight is in Alwar where the BJP has fielded Union minister Bhupendra Yadav against Lalit Yadav
The BJP has fielded Yadav who has been a Rajya Sabha MP twice but is contesting the Lok Sabha elections for the first time. The Congress meanwhile has fielded its MLA Lalit Yadav against him. Lalit is a first-time MLA from Mundawar. Party sources said that the Congress is trying to bring in new leadership here. Former Alwar MP Karan Singh resigned from the Congress after being denied a ticket and joined the BJP. So what roles the rebels will play here is being watched closely.
Another seat which is being discussed in the political corridors is Jalore-Sirohi where the Congress has fielded former CM Ashok Gehlot’s son Vaibhav Gehlot against the BJP’s Lumbaram Chaudhary.
Vaibhav had contested the LS polls from Jodhpur in 2019 but was defeated by Shekahwat. Now he has been fielded from Jalore Sirohi and hence this seat has become a prestige point for Ashok Gehlot too, said party workers.
The BJP has denied a ticket to three-time MP Devji Patel from Jalore-Sirohi and has fielded Lumbaram Chaudhary who is contesting the LS polls for the first time.
Another seat attracting eyeballs is Udaipur where two ex-bureaucrats are locking horns.
The BJP has fielded Mannalal, a former transport officer, after cancelling the ticket of its MP Arjun Mean in Udaipur. Mannalal has served in organisations like the Vishwa Hindu Parishad and the Vanvasi Kalyan Parishad and has grassroots experience. The Congress has fielded former Udaipur collector Tarachand Meena. Both the candidates are outsiders.
The Congress has sprung a surprise by fielding Meena from here as his VRS will only take effect from March 20.
Tarachand is known to be the blue-eyed boy of former CM Ashok Gehlot and was directly appointed the Chittorgarh Collector. Eight months later he was appointed the Collector of Udaipur district. Now, his candidature has left everyone surprised.
Meanwhile, Rajasthan BJP vice president Narayan Pancharia claimed that there is no tough contest on these seats and the BJP will sail through smoothly on all these seats,
“Our party manifesto includes suggestions to see Bharat on top of the world charts by 2047. We are working to see a developed India and the voters are trusting us,” he said.
On the other hand state Congress chief Govind Singh Dotasra said, “Electoral bonds, fake promises of the BJP like reducing petrol and diesel prices in the state to the same rate as that in the neighbouring state has exposed the lies of the saffron party. Voters will teach them a lesson,” he added.
As the attacks and counter -attacks continue, the discussions on these seven seats are garnering attention in political circles while the wait continues for the remaining candidates to be announced.
–IANS
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