The Congress has given ticket to sitting MLA Laxman Meena, who as an independent supported the party during 2020 crisis.
Meena, 1982 batch retired IPS will take on another Meena officer candidate from BJP – Chandra Mohan Meena, who is a 1980 batch retired IAS officers. Both are from Rajasthan cadre and have served the state in various capacities.
Laxman Meena, who took voluntary retirement in 2009, will be contesting from Bassi for the third time. In 2013, he had contested on Congress ticket but lost. In 2018, when the party denied him the ticket, he contested as an independent candidate and won the election. Now he will be contesting again on the Congress symbol.
Laxman Meena, the Inspector General of Police, was the part of Special Investigation Team (SIT) that investigated the Jaipur serial bomb blast that had shaken the city in 2008. All the accused in that bomb blast have been acquitted by High Court due to shoddy investigation as observed by the High Court and lack of evidence.
However, Meena had said that he was part of initial investigation only and had taken voluntary retirement before the probe was handed over to Anti Terrorist Squad (ATS).
“I was part of only 25% investigation,” Meena had said.
The BJP has fielded Chandra Mohan Meena, who retired in 2014 as additional chief secretary. Later in 2015, the BJP government appointed him as Information Commissioner in Rajasthan State Information Commission. He demitted the office as chief information commissioner in 2019.
The Bassi seat reserved for Scheduled Tribe has Meena, Dhanka, Brahmin and scheduled caste votes in sizeable number. While Meena votes are likely to split, victory among the two will be decided on the votes from other castes.
“Bassi has a history of sending independent as MLA. Laxman Meena became MLA as independent in 2018 but lost as Congress candidate in 2013. Anju Devi Dhanka won the seat as independent twice and Kanhaiya Lal won this seat as an independent once. So the result will depend on the candidates,” said Hari Singh Meena, a political observer from Bassi seat.
