Ahead Of Rajasthan Elections, 42 BJP Workers Eye One Party Ticket

A total of 42 workers of Bharatiya Janata Party are in the fray to seek a party ticket from the Sri Dungargarh assembly constituency of Bikaner district.

With Rajasthan assembly elections around the corner, the political battle in the state has intensified — not just between the political parties but within the parties as well.

A total of 42 workers of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) are in the fray to seek a party ticket from the Sri Dungargarh assembly constituency of Bikaner district.

All of them reached the party office in Jaipur on Wednesday to claim their candidature for the assembly seat. All of them travelled together to the state capital and are even staying at the same place.

However, the candidates said that there is no internal conflict among them.

One of the contenders, Krishna Ram, “As many as 42 of our party workers have applied for the ticket from Sri Dungargarh assembly constituency. We have conveyed it to our party leaders that all will support whosoever is given a ticket. We are all dedicated workers of the party.”

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Rajasthan election: Times Now-CNX pre-poll survey predicts win for Congress

The Indian National Congress is likely to come to power in Rajasthan with a comfortable majority after the state assembly elections to be held in December, a Times Now-CNX pre-poll survey has predicted.

The opinion survey predicts 110-120 seats for the Congress in a bipolar contest to the 200 Assembly seats, 70-80 seats for the ruling BJP, 1-3 seats for Mayawati’s BSP 1-3 seats, and 7 for the rest, including Jat leader Hanuman Beniwal’s Rashtriya Loktantrik Party and Ghanshyam Tiwari‘s Bharat Vahini Party (BVP).

In the previous elections in 2013, BJP had coasted to power with 163 seats leaving the Congress a distant second with 21. Rajasthan has been alternatingly voting the two parties to power over the last 25 years.

The Times Now-CNX pre-poll survey predicted a 43.5 vote share for the Congress with an upswing of 10.4% from last time and 40.37 for BJP with s loss of 4,8%.

More than 65% participants expressed dissatisfaction over how her government handled the Padmavati film controversy, while 55.7% were unhappy at the encounter killing of Anandpal Singh, the gangster who had a Robin Hood image among the poor.

Despite the disappointment with Raje’s government, a majority of respondents expressed support for Prime Minister Narendra Modi and were happy with his government’s performance.

Rajasthan goes to poll in a single phase on December 7 and the results will be declared on December 11.

The survey expected the Congress to lead the BJP in all the four regions – Harouti, Marwad, Mewar and Shekawati.

Agency CNX Media said it used its exclusive ‘Super 30’ methodology, interviewing 8040 people across randomly selected 67 constituencies.

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Rajasthan Polls 2018: Will BJP be able to overcome the deep-rooted resentment by Dalits?

According to the 2016 NCRB report, Rajasthan accounts for the third-highest number of crimes involving atrocities against the Scheduled Castes (SCs) and Scheduled Tribes (STs), with Jaipur accounting for more than half the number of such crimes in metropolitan cities.

An interesting statistic that came out of that report was that Rajasthan was the only state that disposed of 38 such cases using the method of plea bargaining. A total of 1,063 cases were disposed of by the Rajasthan police in 2016 for want of evidence.

This is not the only indicator of the growing resentment that the Dalit community has against the ruling BJP government in the state.

Earlier this year, the Supreme Court had read down the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, saying a preliminary inquiry would be conducted before registering an FIR against alleged perpetrators and that the accused will now have a right to seek anticipatory bail. This enraged the Dalits, triggering mass protests across the country.

The tremendous anger in the Dalit community of Rajasthan was mobilized into aggressive protests on April 2 and nationwide bandhs. According to The Caravan, 311 FIRs were filed against people belonging to the SC/ST community after April 2, and none of them have been withdrawn.

The incident may have reminded the community of the Dangawas violence of 2014. In May 2014, there was a dispute between the Meghwals (belonging to Scheduled Caste) and the Jats over a 15-acre plot of land in the Dangawas village of Nagaur district. The dispute escalated quickly into a violent altercation, killing five Dalits, who claimed to be the caretakers of that land.

At that time, Meghwals ran from pillar to post seeking justice, but in vain. In fact, 16 of the 32 MLAs of seats reserved for SCs are Meghwals. Yet, none of them allegedly lent their support to the community at that time, including the MLA of Dangawas.

Rajasthan’s Dalits comprise around 18 percent of the total population, out of which Meghwals constitute more than 50 percent. The Meghwals are concentrated in the central and western part of the state.

Meanwhile, the other half of the Dalit community comprises the Bairwas, the Raigars, and the Jatavs who are concentrated in the eastern districts that border Uttar Pradesh. Besides, more than 20 percent of the community is urban and comprises the entrepreneurial Khatiqs, the Valmiki and the Jingar sub-castes.

Amongst these, Meghwals have been the most vocal about their exasperation with the ruling dispensation, and are most likely to vote for the Congress. The voting patterns of the Jatavs is similar to that of their counterparts in Uttar Pradesh and they are likely to vote for Mayawati’s Bahujan Samaj Party. While the urban Dalits are more inclined towards the saffron party, the Bairwas are torn between the Congress and the BJP.

The BJP, it seems, has taken cognizance of the issue and is treading on the path of course correction. As a part of their outreach programme, the Vasundhara Raje-led BJP government announced a loan waiver amounting to Rs 114 crore in September this year.

However, the Dalits are piqued with their scanty representation in the higher judiciary and education sector, and the saffron party will have to work really hard to earn back the Dalit vote.

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Amit shah Live : BJP president to visit poll-bound Chhattisgarh on Sunday

Chhattisgarh CM Raman Singh is seeking re-election from his known bastion the Rajnandgaon assembly constituency.

BJP president Amit Shah will visit Chhattisgarh on Sunday, November 4 and address several public meetings in the state where Assembly elections will be held in two phases on November 12 and 20.

BJP chief, who had visited Chhattisgarh last month in Bilaspur region and also Raipur, will be given a “grand welcome” by the party leaders on his arrival at Raipur.

In the afternoon, he will address a public rally at Ambagarh Chowki and Khujji Vidhan Sabha in Rajnandgaon district.

Chief Minister Raman Singh is seeking re-election from his known bastion the Rajnandgaon assembly constituency.

According to BJP sources here, Mr Shah will address public gathering at Sadak Atariya, Khairagarh Vidhan Sabha in Rajnandgaon district.

During his last visit to Chhattisgarh, BJP national president had addressed a meeting of party’s intellectual cell in Raipur and almost staged a ‘surgical strike’ on Congress when the working president of the grand old outfit Ramdayal Uikey was roped in to ‘rejoin’ the BJP.

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Why MP matters for the Congress

To win a heartland state will improve the Congress’s national standing and its ability to bring together a wider anti-BJP alliance nationally. Gandhi has set the stage for a fierce battle. The outcome will shape national politics.

Congress president Rahul Gandhi kicked off his party’s campaign in Madhya Pradesh’s Malwa-Nimar region on Monday and Tuesday. This is a particularly crucial belt in the state’s politics, for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had won 56 of the 66 seats here in the last elections. If the Congress is to displace the BJP from the state, it has to make a dent here. Gandhi, along with state leaders, Kamal Nath and Jyotiraditya Scindia, visited the Mahakal temple in Ujjain; addressed public rallies in Ujjain and Jhabua; and did a road show in Indore on Monday. And on Tuesday, he had public meetings in Dhar, Khargone and Mhow.

In all his public utterances, certain themes were common. These are now clearly emerging as an integral part of Gandhi and the Congress’ campaign messages for both the state elections and the 2019 battle. One, he launched a sharp attack on Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, for siding with rich industrialists, waiving their loans, letting them flee the country, and engaging in corruption and cronyism on Rafale. These allegations were interspersed with the cry of “chowkidar chor hai” (the watchman is a thief), a slogan that Gandhi and the Congress have made their own. This is a high stakes gamble. Modi’s biggest strength has been the electorate’s faith in his intent and integrity; the Congress wants to shatter that. If it works, Rahul will deserve credit for persistence and changing the narrative. But there is an equally high possibility of this backfiring, for there is no evidence to indicate that Modi is today seen as personally corrupt and he could well play the victim card. The second theme in Gandhi’s speech was his claim that as opposed to the BJP, the Congress was for the poor, farmers, Dalits and tribals. The Mandasur killings and agrarian distress have given the Congress ammunition to make this claim. The BJP, however, hopes to neutralise this with its range of both central and state welfare schemes. Gandhi’s third line of attack centred around Shivraj Singh Chouhan’s governance record and “corruption”. Chouhan hit back at a factual inaccuracy in Gandhi’s speech, when the Congress president claimed that the CM’s son was named in the Panama papers.

The larger story emerging from Gandhi’s campaign is how Madhya Pradesh matters to the Congress. In fact, this could well be the most important of the five state elections. It is the largest state going to the polls; the BJP has been in power for 15 years and it is imperative for the Congress to be able to make a comeback to sustain its own party organisation and cadre morale; the state has 29 Lok Sabha seats and success now could translate into success in 2019; to win a heartland state will improve the Congress’s national standing and its ability to bring together a wider anti-BJP alliance nationally. Gandhi has set the stage for a fierce battle. The outcome will shape national politics.

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Rajasthan : Case Against Minister for Allegedly Promoting Enmity

A video has gone viral on social media in which Minister Dhan Singh Rawat can be seen as purportedly saying, “If Muslims can vote unitedly for Congress, then all Hindus can also unite and go with the BJP and make it win with a thumping majority.”

A Rajasthan minister has been booked under the Representation of the People Act for allegedly promoting enmity between two groups in his speech at an election rally last week, officials said.

A video has gone viral on social media in which Panchayati Raj and Rural Development Minister Dhan Singh Rawat can be seen as purportedly saying, “If Muslims can vote unitedly for Congress, then all Hindus can also unite and go with the BJP and make it win with a thumping majority.”

At the public meeting in Banswara district on Saturday, the Bharatiya Janata Party legislator had claimed that his party was a “protector” of the “sanatan sanskriti” (traditional culture)’ of India and termed the Congress a “party of Muslims”.

State Chief Electoral Officer Anand Kumar said the district election department had lodged an FIR and the matter was being investigated.

A case has been registered against Rawat at Banswara Kotwali police station on Monday under Section 125 (promoting enmity between classes in connection with election) of the Representation of the People Act, 1951, Circle Officer Ghanshyam Sharma told PTI.

The officer added that investigation was on in the matter.

Days after Rawat’s purported comments drew criticism, state BJP president Madan Lal Saini clarified that the party does not discriminate on the basis of caste and religion.

“We represent every Indian living in the country. Development of each section of society is our slogan and we do not represent any particular community,” party vice-president and Rajasthan in-charge Avinash Rai Khanna said.

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Raipur diary: Chhattisgarh CM launches poll campaign, Congress mum on manifesto

Raman launches Bastar poll campaign

Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh kicked-off the BJP’s Bastar mission with the agenda of peace and development. Noting that growth of the region at four-time the original rate was his main agenda, Singh said the Bastar region remains a priority even for Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The Bastar region, larger than Kerala in an area, is affected by the Maoist violence. Political parties believe the tribal belt holds a key to the formation of the government.

It is also true that the myth about ‘road to power from Bastar’ was dented in 2013 when the Congress won eight of the 12 seats from Bastar. Modi will address his first election rally at Jagdalpur in Bastar on November 9.

Congress to maintain secrecy on manifesto

Without naming the BJP, chairman of Congress manifesto Chairman T S Singhdeo claimed that during the previous elections, the opposition took out a leaf out of its manifesto which it had declared before. Singhdeo was referring to the Minimum Support Price of Rs 2,000 and a bonus of Rs 250 which the Congress had mentioned in its manifesto. Later, the BJP had allegedly revised its own manifesto and hiked up the MSP and bonus to Rs 2,100 and Rs 270 for peddling them as their main poll agenda.

The Congress state committee is likely to release the manifesto after the ruling BJP, sources in the Congress said. A total confidentiality is being maintained while preparing the manifesto this year, they added.

‘Happea’ for happiness and peace

The word ‘Happea’ sounds strange, but the mission is noble. The word derives its name from the first three letters of ‘happiness’ and ‘peace’. In fact, this is the prime objective of Raipur-based academician Jawahar Surisetti behind the launch of a unique web-portal.

The portal is built on the premise that different age groups have different definitions and reasons for happiness. The idea came to him after he was struck by the low ranking of India in the Global Happiness Index.

“There is a mismatch, with India being the spiritual capital of the world but also not being happy,” he said. The Happea movement caters to four segments – kids, teens, young adults, and senior adults.

Shortage of 2000 currency notes

The shortage of currency notes of 2000 denomination ahead of the Assembly polls is being linked to a rising demand of cash during the elections. The disappearing of these pink notes from the markets and ATMs has led to this suspicion gathering strength. Even though bankers admit that there is a shortage of these notes, they claim they cannot do anything as most of these notes in circulation is not returning to the banks. Bank customers are getting money in the denominations of K500, K200 and K100 from ATMs. “There is no unusual demand of K2,000 notes in the state. Either the hoarding (of these notes) is to be blamed, or the printing of such notes has stopped,” tax consultant Ramesh Warlyani said.

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Congress releases third list of candidates for Chhattisgarh polls; party banking on old and new faces to regain power

The Congress is banking on a combination of new faces and old-timers in ticket distribution to end its 15-year wait to rule Chhattisgarh, which goes to polls next month.

The Opposition party, late on Saturday evening, released a list of candidates — its third — for 37 Assembly seats going to polls in the second and last phase of voting on 20 November. It has renominated 15 sitting MLAs and fielded 11 candidates who had lost in 2013, besides giving tickets to 11 fresh faces.

No sitting MLA was denied a ticket in the third list. However, only three women figure in it.

A Congress leader said the party is ensuring that representation is given to all sections of society. “It is a completely balanced list wherein the party has given representation to leaders belonging to all sections of society,” claimed the head of the Chhattisgarh Congress communication wing, Shailesh Nitin Trivedi.

“Candidates were selected on the basis of the party’s survey and performances of leaders,” he said, adding that it is a “well-planned strategy” to win the upcoming election.

The two lists released earlier contained 18 names. With this, the Opposition party has, so far, announced 55 candidates in BJP-ruled Chhattisgarh, which has a 90-member House.

State Congress chief Bhupesh Baghel (Patan seat), Congress Legislative Party leader TS Singhdeo (Ambikapur), senior Congress leader Satyanarayan Sharma (Raipur Rural) and prominent tribal leader Amarjeet Bhagat (Sitapur) were among the sitting MLAs who were given tickets.

In the last Assembly polls, 26 Congress sitting MLAs, including prominent leaders like Rampukar Singh, Ravindra Choubey, Amitesh Shukla and Mohammad Akbar, had tasted defeat. This time, Singh (Pathalgaon-ST), Shukla (Rajim), Akbar (Kawardha) and Choubey (Saja) have been renominated from their respective seats.

Chhattisgarh Congress working president Shiv Kumar Dahariya, who had lost the previous election from Bilaigarh (SC), has been fielded from Arang (SC) this time. Similarly, Guru Rudra Kumar, who had lost the 2013 election from Arang, has been given a ticket from Ahiwara (SC).

A popular young Congress leader, Vikas Upadhyay, who had lost to BJP minister Rajesh Munat from Raipur West last time by a margin of 6,160 votes, has been renominated from the seat. He will take on Munat again.

Among other leaders who have been given tickets despite losing the 2013 polls are Premsai Tekam (Pratappur) and Pratima Chandrakar (Durg Rural).

Vinay Kumar Bhagat and Uttamdan Minj, who had lost the 2008 Assembly election from Jashpur and Kunkuri, respectively, have been fielded from the same seats this time. Vinay Jaiswal, an eye surgeon, Devendra Yadav, Ramkumar Yadav are among the fresh faces fielded by the party this time.

Bhilai Municipal Corporation Mayor Devendra Yadav, a youth leader, has been fielded from the Bhilai Nagar seat, where he will take on state minister and sitting BJP MLA Premprakash Pandey. Jaiswal will contest from Manendragarh.

Ramkumar Yadav, a prominent farmer leader, had contested from Chandrapur constituency as a Bahujan Samaj Party candidate in 2013 and had finished runner-up. He recently joined the Congress, which has given him ticket from Chandrapur.

Voting in Chhattisgarh will be held in two phases — on 12 November and 20 November — and counting will take place on 11 December.

The first phase covers 18 seats spread across eight naxal-affected districts — Bastar, Bijapur, Dantewada, Sukma, Kondagaon, Kanker, Narayanpur and Rajnandgaon. The remaining 72 seats will see polling on 20 November.

The ruling BJP has so far announced 78 candidates.

In 2013, the BJP had won 49, the Congress 39, the BSP 1 and an Independent 1.

The BJP has been ruling the tribal-dominated state, which came into existence in November 2000, since 2003 under the leadership of Raman Singh.

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Rajasthan polls: Vasundhara Raje to Contest From Home-turf Jhalrapatan

Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje on Sunday announced that she will contest the upcoming Assembly election in the state from the Jhalrapatan constituency in Jhalawar district.

“I have a 30-year-old connection with the people of Jhalawar. The people here have showered love and affection. I have done whatever I could do for Jhalawar and Baran districts,” she said.

Raje has been elected thrice from the Jhalrapatan seat in 2003, 2008 and 2013. She said although her focus would be to win all the 200 Assembly seats in the Rajasthan Assembly, special attention would be on 100 seats.

Raje exuded confidence that the BJP would form a majority government in the state once again.

She said BJP workers have created a situation that Congress’s PM-face Rahul Gandhi is forced to hold Assembly-level public meetings. “In the 2008 Assembly election, the BJP was eight seats away from making government in the state. The BJP had won 78 seats despite tough circumstances. Also, four seats were won by the JD(U) and the BJP dissidents. The Congress had won 96 seats,” the chief minister said.

“Of the eight seats, six seats were from Jhalawar and Baran districts. People of Jhalawar-Baran would not make any mistake this time and saffron would bloom in the state again,” she added.

Rajasthan will go to the polls on December 7.

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Defections galore ahead of Rajasthan Assembly Polls

Last week, BJP leader and former Union minister Jaswant Singh’s son Manvendra joined the Congress at the party’s headquarters in New Delhi

Ahead of the Rajasthan assembly polls scheduled on December 7, leaders are switching parties.

The Congress district president of Dholpur joined the BJP on October 26 while the BJP’s Jaipur district president switched to the Opposition party.

Ashok Sharma, son of Congress leader Banwarilal Sharma, joined the saffron party in the presence of MPs Dushyant Singh and Arjum Ram Meghwal, and ministers Rajendra Rathore and Gulab Chand Kataria at BJP office in Jaipur.

Sharma told mediapersons that he joined the BJP as he was impressed with the work that Rajasthan CM Vasundhara Raje had done to solve the problem of drinking water in Dholpur.

Sharma also said even though his father has worked with the Grand Old Party for more than two decades, he was never given a place in the All Indian Congress Committee (AICC). Adding that the Congress has double standards due to which party workers are unhappy, Sharma announced that he will now work as “ordinary worker with the BJP” for the development of the Dholpur area.

Rathore told the media that Ashok’s entry to the BJP will further strengthen the party’s foothold in eastern Rajasthan. “This is just the trailer. The film is yet to be screened. Wait and watch who else will join the BJP. The Congress is a divided house and there is a long line of those who want to join the BJP,” Rathore told the publication.

Meanwhile, in Sikar, four BJP leaders joined the Congress in the presence of Congress President Rahul Gandhi.

The four leaders are Mool Chand Meena, BJP zila pramukh of Jaipur; Bindu Choudhary, ex-zila pramukh of Nagaur district and sister of minister Ajay Singh Kilak; Narayan Ram Beda, former MLA; and Jat leader Vijay Poonia, whose wife Usha Poonia was tourism minister in previous Raje government.

Besides, Zamindara Party leader Shimla Nayak, who contested the 2013 polls from Anoopgarh, also joined the party.

Last week, BJP leader and former Union minister Jaswant Singh’s son Manvendra Singh had joined the Congress at the party’s headquarters in New Delhi.

Manvendra claimed that the saffron party disregarded his father at the national level, while the Vasundhara Raje-led BJP government targeted him after his father was denied a Lok Sabha ticket from Rajasthan.

While both the national parties are accusing each other of infighting, it seems that both have been infected with the same disease, with party leaders abandoning their own and joining the opposite bloc.

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