Wracked by factionalism, both BJP, Cong go slow on naming candidates

Jaipur, Oct 8: When will the first list of candidates come out, this seems to have become a billion dollar question in the Congress, as well as in the BJP camp. While Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot had said a few months ago that the party would announce the list of candidates two months before elections, speculation is rife as to when this list will come.

Speaking to IANS, Congress state incharge Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa said, “We are planning on bringing winnable candidates. Our focus is on the youth. Our first list should come out soon after the Model Code of Conduct is announced.”

There is major speculation in the Congress party that has been hit hard by factionalism due to the feud between Ashok Gehlot and Sachin Pilot. Also, there are reports that around 30 per cent tickets will be cut this time in the wake of the anti-incumbency factor hitting local MLAs.

However, Randhawa refuted reports of factionalism and said that the party stands united. “There is no divide and no two camps. Have you seen anyone speaking against another in the last few months,” he asked, without taking names of any leader specifically. Meanwhile, he accepted the fact that nepotism was a challenge in the party and the High Command was working to weed out this problem in Rajasthan.

However, it’s not only the Congress that is contemplating on its list of candidates and their winnability factor, but the saffron party, too, seems to be sailing in the same boat.

Recently Union Minister Amit Shah, BJP National President JP Nadda and General Secretary (Organisation) BL Santosh made a surprise visit to Jaipur where they had a meeting with senior party leaders of Rajasthan. Former Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje, Leader of Opposition Rajendra Rathore, Deputy Leader of Opposition Satish Poonia, Organisation Secretary Chandrashekhar, MP Rajyavardhan Rathore and a few others participated in the meeting. There was a surprise entry by MP Diya Kumari, who went after meeting Amit Shah for ten minutes.

There were reports that Shah and the team would meet RSS leaders of the state too, however, this meeting was cancelled without any explanation and held in Delhi later. In the Delhi meeting, Rajasthan BJP leaders were asked to give a list with names of winnable candidates. However, sources said that the names given by the state leaders did not match with the names favoured by the party leadership and hence the release of the list was delayed.

BL Santosh came to Jaipur again and discussed the names with senior leaders and hence it is expected that the first list will be released soon after a consensus is built.

Meanwhile, the party is also facing testing times as senior leader Vasundhara Raje has been organising her own gatherings and pulling huge crowds.

While party insiders say that she is trying to convince the top leadership of her strong candidature for the Chief Minister’s job by making a show of strength, Prime Minister Modi has declared that the BJP’s symbol ‘lotus’ will be the face of the party during elections. While it is clear from Modi’s directive that no single leader from Rajasthan will be the face in these polls, the party is reluctant to contest elections without a face.

However, Narayan Panchariya, the BJP’s election committee incharge refuted such claims. “Raje has been a senior member of our family and her contribution to our party is immense. In fact, recently, she was in Jharkhand and was the star of the BJP show there. She was assigned four constituencies in Jharkhand for rallies to mark nine years of the Modi government, and she did her job well,” he said.

Dwelling on the issue of tickets, he said, "It will come soon. Anytime now."

Meanwhile party workers from the Congress and the BJP are eagerly awaiting the list and agree that factionalism is making it tough for the leaders to shortlist winnable candidates.

“We expect that the youth and women will be given more chances in this election”, leaders of both parties told IANS.