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Polls 2008: Rajasthan
Rebels major worry for BJP, Congress
Jupinderjit Singh
Tribune News Service

Jaipur, November 22
Rebels of both Congress and BJP are all set to give the parties a run for their money in the state with 50 BJP leaders, including 10 MLAs, and 55 Congress leaders are either contesting elections on their own or openly campaigning against their original parties.

Even though the BJP acted tough last evening by suspending party membership of 17 leaders, including 10 sitting MLAs, for their open revolt against the selected candidates, it has failed to silence dissension.

BJP state president Om Mathur announced last evening that all efforts to placate the rebels had failed, “As they have failed to see the party’s point of view and work for collective growth, we have no option but to sack them.”

The Congress has not taken such a drastic action against any leader but it has sounded a warning to the rebels to silently stay away from campaigning. The BJP has also told the rebels to coolly retire from the election scene if they want some chance of reconciliation with the party post elections.

Party sources say the rebels are so upset that all offers, including greater positions in the party, Lok Sabha ticket and other allurements have failed to bring them back. The BJP has even been hit by the statements of Gujjar leader Col Kirori Lal Bainsla (retd), who has expressed unhappiness with the party for not giving enough ticket to his community members.

The party took disciplinary action against MP Vishwendra Singh, who is contesting election from Deegh Kumher on Congress ticket. His expulsion was a formality only as he had already left the party.

Other expelled leaders were former minister Kiroria Lal Meena, MLAs Laxmi Barupal, Govinder Chauhan, Jiva Ram Chowdhry, Arjun Singh Devra, Arjun Jingar, K.D. Babbar, Data Ram Gujjar, Rakesh Meghwal, Kanhailal Dhakkar and Mandawa leader Narendra Singh, former MLA Hira Singh Chauhan, besides a few others.

The Congress has not taken any strict action against the rebels even as parleys to appease them have failed. Major leaders who were fighting elections as Independent are Parsadi lala Meena, Lal Saut, Bheem Raj Batti, former home minister Digvijay Singh, Dilil Chowdhry, Govardhan Kalla, Devi Singh Naruka and Mohan Barupal.

There were reports that these leaders were in touch with the third front-parties and were opening a dialogue with the Mayawati-led BSP.

With caste and clan being the unique dominant factor in the Rajasthan polls, these leaders are sure to make a major dent in the fortunes of many a candidates. The first time candidates, short on experience of campaigning, are the worst hit by the experienced stalwarts.

Caste factor plays major role here
Chitleen K Sethi writes from Moonpur (Alwar)

“All we want is to see a Jat on the Chief Minister’s chair,” said an elder of this small dusty village almost 170 km from Jaipur. For a state, which is sharply divided on the basis of castes, such statements are commonly made during elections. “While addressing election sabhas, candidates talk about issues like drinking water, roads and schools but later they quietly whisper that they belong to this caste and ask for votes,” said Niranjan Lal, the village purohit.

It is impossible to ignore the marked caste divisions that influence election politics in rural Rajasthan and base any pre-election analysis only on the development works that local leaders have done in these areas. “In the past five years, only one work was done here. And that too was done by the Bharatpur King Vishwender Singh. He got our village school upgraded to Class X. Beyond that demands like a dispensary, a drinking water tank and a veterinary dispensary just remain distant dreams,” said Bhiniara Singh.

The topmost leader of the Jats in this area is King Vishwender Singh of Bharatpur, who is contesting from the Deeg-Kumher. Till 15 days ago, Vishwender was the sitting BJP MP from Bharatpur. With his own parliamentary constituency having been declared as reserved, following delimitation, Vishwender is keen on playing a larger role in the state politics.

When he was reportedly denied the BJP ticket from here, Vishwender grabbed the Congress offer of a ticket and was now the biggest threat to the BJP here.

Dr Digambar Singh, who remained the health minister of the state these past five years and who had, till a month ago, the complete support of Vishwender is now finding it difficult to break through the traditional voting pattern in favour of members of the royal family. Jat leaders in the Mewat area of Rajasthan have a strong hold on the seven seats of Bharatpur and at least two seats of Alwar. In Alwar, majority of the other seats are affected by the Yadav and Ahir populations.

Some others are influenced by the local Muslim leaders. “Caste is the major voting factor in this part of the country. Larger economic and social factors are non-existent,” Vijay Jaiswal, a shop owner in Nagar area on the Bharatpur- Alwar border said.

The Nagar constituency is the hot bed of Gujjar politics. Both the Congress and the BJP have fielded Gujjar leaders here. Attar Singh Badhana, a gujjar BJP MLA, who had resigned during the Gujjar protest in May this year has now got the Congress ticket.

The BSP aiming to make further inroads into Rajasthan has also fielded a Gujjar candidate from Nagar. “The Gujjars are against the BJP because of the treatment meted out to them,” Subhash a resident of Nagar said. The estrangement between political issues and real issues is almost complete. “It does not matter, who has done how much for the people. Vaundhra Raje has done a lot for the state but that is not enough to win an election another time,” Bhupendra a resident of Nadbai said.

Nadbai, another constituency of Bharatpur with over two lakh voters has 15 candidates in the fray. And it is the Jjat factor at play once again. The top three candidates are all Jats with BJP candidate Krishener Kaur, daughter of Raja Mann Singh, a member of the Bharatpur royal family.

In every poll, they say lakes will be saved...
Jupinderjit Singh
Tribune News Service

Udaipur, November 22
It is ironical that the main election issue that has emerged in all eight constituencies in Udaipur --- the city of lakes and popularly known as the Venice of the East--- is the paucity of safe drinking water.

The Ahar or the Ayad river, believed to be a tributary of the Ganga, has become so polluted that it can be easily termed the budda nullah of Rajasthan. "The Picholo Sagar, Swarup Sagar, Fateh Sagar and the Udai Sagar all have become polluted," rues Nand Lal Singhvi, a septuagenarian trader, who no longer goes for a morning walk at any of the lakes.

"They smell bad. They make me sick. I heard candidates in election rallies. They talked about several projects that were in place or would be introduced to save the lakes. I have been hearing all those promises for some elections now," he said disappointingly.

"Politicians here have been raising the issue of lakes and their pollution," adds Dr Trilok C Sharma, a rotarian and a freelance journalist. "At every election, it is the same rhetoric that water bodies would be saved but nothing happens on ground.

"The situation has become so bad that now the locals are forced to buy branded mineral water bottles. The deterioration of the underground water is so acute that safe drinking water has become an issue," stated Divyat, who owns a couple of boats for tourists.

"Tourists come in flocks. But when they look at the dirty ghats, the sewage flowing into the lakes and rivers, we bow our heads in shame" he said, pointing to a sewer passing under the Pichola lake that houses the picturesque lake palace. "The sewers have leaks that cause the sewage to mix in the lake water."

Despite having senior and powerful politicians like MP and National Commission for Women chairperson Girija Vyas, state Congress leader C P Joshi and BJP state Home Minister fighting and winning from the city and its vicinity, the grants seems to have failed to reach their destination.

The fear of floods is another concern of city residents. "The city had a perfect water management system. All the lakes and rivers were interconnected to manage the excess water. Now, the land mafia helped by politicians has encroached upon the land left for free-flowing rivers. There has been no history of floods in Udaipur but two years ago, a major part of the city had remained marooned as the natural course of water flowing down the Aravallis had been fiddled with," alleges Dr Sharma.

Udaipur hopes that even if one or two of the eight representatives it would send to the Assembly carry out their promise to save the lakes, the city would surely be better than Venice.