Those who know rules of the games of hockey and football, understand the importance of ‘man to man' marking in winning. The BJP, perhaps is applying this rule in Rajasthan politics.
According to sources, BJP is working on plans to field strong candidates against key politicians of Congress to pin them in their respective constituencies.
The party has made firebrand member of parliament from South Delhi Ramesh Bidhuri, a fellow Gurjar incharge of Tonk constituency to fix the movement of Sachin Pilot. After his controversial fiery anti Muslim statement, Bidhuri is also likely to polarise Hindu votes in favour of BJP. Since there is sizeable Gurjar population in 4-5 constituencies surrounding Tonk, Bidhuri's presence will neutralise the Pilot pull among Gurjars.
The BJP is also strategically planning to field strong candidate against chief minister Ashok Gehlot from Sardarpura. The party is said to be thinking of fielding even union minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat to engage Gehlot heavily on his seat. If Shekhawat is not fielded even then BJP will not give Gehlot a walk away. They will definitely field a candidate who can give Gehlot run for money.
For assembly speaker and senior Congress leader C P Joshi, BJP is using the glamour of erstwhile Udaipur royal family, who has great influence over entire Mewar region including Nathdwara from where Joshi is contesting. The recently inducted in the party Vishvaraj Singh Mewar, member of Udaipur royal family has been straightaway asked to take on old war horse Joshi. BJP may put Joshi in tight spot with this move.
Similarly, for Congress state president Govind Singh Dotasara, BJP has chosen another strong Jat of Shekhawati region Subhash Mehariya, who had been three time MP and union minsiter. Mehariya though had lost election once to Dotasara in Lakshmangarh in 2013. Later in 2016, Mehariya joined Congress to contest 2019 Lok Sabha election from Sikar but lost to Sumedhanand Saraswati. He again joined BJP in June this year and has been given task to contain Dotasara.
“In such super tight contests, there is no surety to win. But these are steps which benefit the party in overall scheme of things. So even if any of these ‘sacrificial candidates' lose, party will take care of their interest,” said a senior BJP leader.
Ram Kumar Kaushik is a seasoned journalist with over 25 years of experience across mediums. The architect of this news website, he is also a consultant with several media groups. He was formerly the group managing editor of ITV Network (NewsX, India News and The Sunday Guardian) and its digital products.
