Jhalawar: Raje struggles to save her prestige

KOTA: Former chief minister Vasundhara Raje is finding it difficult to retain her traditional constituency, Jhalawar. She has made all efforts for victory of her son, Dushyant Singh (BJP), who is contesting from the seat and trying his luck for the second time.
On the other hand, Congress has tried to trap Raje by giving a ticket to Urmila Jain, wife of Pramod Jain 'Bhaya', who is the state minister of public works department (PWD) and it seems that Congress has been successful in this to a certain extent.After the assembly elections, Raje has spent most of her time in Baran and Jhalawar districts addressing public meetings, meeting the voters directly and arranging road-shows.
There is a direct fight between Congress and BJP on Jhalawar-Baran Parliament seat and, therefore, workers of both the parties have been working hard for victory of their candidates. Since candidates of both the parties have a sound economic background, money is being spent lavishly. The Congress candidate is trying her luck for the first time while Dushyant of BJP is contesting for the second time. However, they have one similarity - both are not good orators. Since both are bad speakers this responsibility has been taken up by Pramod Jain for his wife Urmila and by Raje for her son Dushyant.
Dushyant also has full support of his mother's close associates, Satya Narayan Gupta and Pratap Singh Singhvi, while his rival, Urmila is getting full cooperation from home minister Shanti Dhariwal.
Both candidates are emphasizing more on meeting people personally rather than delivering speeches. Sometimes, on arrival of a senior party leader, if they are forced to deliver a speech then their address to the public is brief.
When Urmila campaigns in Baran district, she seeks the favour of voters by saying "Main aapki bahu hoon, mujhe vote dijiye," (I am your daughter-in-law, please vote for me) because her husband Pramod Jain is a resident of Baran district. While campaigning in Jhalawar district, she says, "Main aapki beti hoon, mujhe ashirvaad do," (I am your daughter, give me your blessings). This is because she was born in Khanpur of Jhalawar district.
Dushyant is also demanding votes for himself but his mother is one step ahead of him. She addresses public meetings with, "Your vote for my son Dushyant is indirectly a vote for me. You are not voting for my son, you are voting for me." Victory of Dushyant has become a prestige issue for Raje. She has been in Jhalawar for the past one month and is campaigning vigorously.
Raje did not even hesitate to shake hands with her opponent and critic Prahlad Gunjal, who, along with Colonel Kirori Singh Bainsla, had led the Gujjar agitation during her regime. Earlier, she had expelled Gunjal from the party. But this time she went to his house and declared his re-inclusion in the party to woo Gujjar votes of Jhalawar and Baran belt.
Though it is a separate matter that after Prahlad Gunjal's inclusion to BJP, many young Gujjars burnt his effigy, making it difficult to forecast whether Raje will get any advantage from shaking hands with her opponent.
Wherever Prahlad Gunjal goes for campaigning he is asked why he joined hands with the party that is responsible for killing 70 people of his own caste during the Gujjar agitation.
There is another reason which makes it difficult for Dushyant to win from Jhalawar. In the last assembly elections, out of the total eight assembly seats of Baran and Jhalawar, BJP won only two seats of Jhalrapatan and Khanpur. The remaining assembly seats of Dag, Manoharthana, (both in Jhalawar district), Anta, Baran, Chhabra, and Kishanganj-Shahbad seats were won by Congress.
The biggest problem for BJP is to change the voters' mood in these six seats that were won by Congress. Congress is in a better position, especially when it defeated senior leaders of BJP like Pratap Singh Singhvi and Madan Dilavar who were ministers in the Raje government.