By Ram Kumar Kaushik
It seems Congress is well on its way to announce its candidates in the first week of September, as claimed by All India Congress Committee (AICC) general secretary K C Venugopal in the first week of July when 29 state leaders met senior AICC members to discuss strategy for Rajasthan. As part fo that strategy, the party has announced 29-member state election committee (SEC) to jump start the electioneering in Rajasthan well ahead of polls due in November. The party will soon announce other committees also which includes campaign committee, coordination committee, publicity and publication committee, media and communications committee, transport and accommodation committee, protocol committee and discipline committee.
Last time in 2018, the party had announced the SEC in the first week of October, barely a month ahead of elections. The committee was then 44 membered led by Sachin Pilot, who is also member of the committee this year. The SEC this time however is headed by Govind Singh Dotasara, who is the state party chief. The committee has names of almost the same leaders who had attended meeting with high command in the first week of this month.
Decoding message in committee formation
The committee has 17 ministers including chief minister Ashok Gehlot. The committee also has senior leaders like Jitendra Singh, Raghu Sharma, Mohan Prakash, Rameshwar Doodi, Harish Choudhary and Raghuveer Meena as members. However, many senior leaders like Girija Vyas, B D Kalla and Parsadi Lal Meena are missing in the list. The list has clear stamping of Gehlot. Except Murari Lal Meena, all members in the list are more-or-less Gehlot supporters including Pratap Singh Khachariawas, Harish Choudhary and Raghu Sharma who of late have shown some difference of opinion with the chief minister.
Prominent Exclusions from the list
Political observers believe that despite being loyalist of Gehlot Shanti Dhariwal and Mahesh Joshi have been left out because the high command still feels that the duo had sabotaged the infamous Congress Legislative Party (CLP) meeting in September last year. Though no disciplinary action was taken against them but since then both Joshi and Dhariwal are being kept out of important meeting with AICC leaders. Apart from them, senior leaders like Dipendra Singh Shekhawat and Hem ram Choudhary have also been excluded from the list. Probably their announcement of retiring from active politics has something to do with party's decision.
Caste formula well fit
The committee has been formed keeping in view the cast equation. The maximum representation has been given to Jat community with five Jat leaders making the cut. Similarly, the list has four members each of Scheduled Caste, Tribal and Gurjar have been included while there is representation of two members each of Brahmin, Rajput and Muslim communities.
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