Battle of survival for former min Maharia in Lachmangarh

Jaipur: With the BJP fielding former Union minister Subhash Maharia in the Lachmangarh assembly seat, a big fight is on the cards. Lachmangarh is the current constituency of PCC president Govind Singh Dotasra. Dotasra is most likely to be repeated for the fourth time as the Congress candidate. The two will lock horns after a decade. In the 2013 assembly polls, Dotasra had defeated Maharia by a huge margin and retained the seat. Incidentally, both belong to the same community, Jat.Dotasra used his influence in the government to declare Sikar a divisional headquarter and claims to have made development works worth over Rs 1,000 crore in the last five years.For Maharia, who returned to his earlier party, BJP, in May this year, it is a do-or-die battle to keep alive his political future. Maharia had contested the 2019 parliamentary election from Sikar as a Congress candidate. He was elected thrice from the Sikar Lok Sabha constituency in 1998, 1999 and 2004 and joined the Congress in 2016. After joining the Congress, Maharia in the 2018 assembly elections campaigned for Dotasra and ensured his vicotry. Maharia served as the Union minister of state for rural development in the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government from 1999 to 2004. After defeat in the 2009 Lok Sabha polls, the BJP denied him a ticket in 2014, leading him to part ways with the saffron party.“If Maharia fails at the hustings this time, it will be very difficult to revive his political career. Maharia must be hoping for some sympathy in the election, but he is likely to face a strong candidate and rising star of the Congress: Dotasra,” said a BJP leader.Maharia must also be hoping of some anti-incumbency against Dotasra as he represents the seat for the last three terms. Dotasra was the minister of state for primary and secondary education (independent charge) and the minister for tourism and devasthan in the present government. He had to relinquish the post of minister after being made the state Congress on the principle of one man one post in November 2021. Dotasra was the ‘chief whip’ of Congress in the Rajasthan Legislative Assembly in the previous assembly.Dotasra was chosen as the best parliamentarian for 2016 by the special committee of Rajasthan Legislative Assembly and was honoured by then speaker Kailash Meghwal. However, he had his own share of controversies especially when the BJP targeted him on question paper leaks of REET exams and selection of his family members in the RAS.