Rajya Sabha elections: Number game in Rajasthan favors Ashok Gehlot

Ashok Gehlot 

Jaipur: The gamble of BJP for Rajya Sabha (RS) election in Rajasthan may turn out to be an overplay as Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot has tightened his grip on the number game. KC Venugopal, the General Secretary (Organisation) of Congress is RS candidate from Rajasthan along with Neeraj Dangi, a young Dalit face from western Rajasthan. BJP has fielded Rajendra Gehlot as their first candidate while Omkar Singh Lakhawat is in the fray as second BJP candidate.

Election commission of India (ECI) had announced elections for 55 RS seats in 17 states on February 21 to be held on March 26. But due to the lockdown situation, the RS elections were also postponed. ECI has now notified the new date for RS election as of June 19; bringing the focus back on number game in Rajasthan.

Two hundred member strong Rajasthan assembly currently has 107 members of congress which include those six which had been elected on BSP ticket but switched sides, en mass. BJP has 72 members followed by three of Rashtriya Lok Tantrik party (RLTP) and two each of Communist Party of India (CPI-M) and Bhartiya Tribal Party (BTP) and one from Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD).

The onus of BJP was on 13 independent and few disgruntled from the congress but the possibility seems a farfetched thought. “We have the required numbers and would issue a whip for the party MLAs for the purpose. We are not worried at all.” A floor manager of Congress in Rajasthan assembly said.

Ashok Gehlot camp considers five ministers and 16 MLAs of the party as Sachin Pilot loyalist. But sources say that two of these ministers have already changed allegiance while one is hospitalized. Out of 16 MLAs who are considered as Sachin Pilot loyalists, fifteen stands with him firmly to do anything at the flick of his eyes while a BJP turncoat who got elected as Congress MLA is closer to Vasundhara Raje than leaders of his own party. One cabinet minister on whom Sachin Pilot camp may put a bet is Vishvendra Singh Bharatpur but he is unlikely to cross vote in RS election.

“We know that they have the numbers but we were banking upon the smaller parties and votes which can spill over towards us from congress due to their internal contradictions. Even one cross vote in congress camp would establish that there is an irreconcilable difference is congress leadership behind the façade of tranquillity.” Satish Poonia, Rajasthan BJP State president said. Omkar Singh Lakhawat BJP candidate in RS election, when contacted, reiterated the stand of his state party chief.

The smartest thing that floor managers for Ashok Gehlot have done is that they have shifted MLAs who are considered close to Sachin Pilot to vote for KC Venugopal as the first choice while rest will vote for Neeraj Dangi as the first choice. MLAs from CPI-M and BTP are firmly in congress camp while three MLAs of RLTP are expected to support BJP. Members of the Dalit community in Rajasthan have been pressuring Hanuman Beniwal, the leader of RLTP, to support Neeraj Dangi, a Dalit candidate; as two out of three MLAs of the party are Dalit.

Overall, second BJP candidate Omkar Singh Lakhawat is expected to fall short of 27 votes while BJP still looking towards Sachin Pilot camp to do a trick for them.

Sachin Pilot Deputy Chief Minister and Chief of Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) could not be contacted for comment despite repeated attempts.