The Hindu : BJP fighting a losing battle in Shekhawati region

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Nov 17, 2003

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BJP fighting a losing battle in Shekhawati region

By Sunny Sebastian

SIKAR (RAJASTHAN) NOV.16. The Shekhawati districts, the gateway to the Thar desert, have not seemingly changed much politically since 1998 when the voters overwhelmingly went for the Congress. That time the Congress had won 18 of 21 seats in the districts of Sikar, Jhunjhunu and Churu, known for their havelis and frescoes and of late, for ex and serving armed forces personnel and expatriates.

Yet there was an interlude when the Congress party, faced with the wrath of the predominant Jat population over the reservation issue lost two out of the three Lok Sabha seats in 1999 to the BJP which had seemingly derived an additional impetus from the Kargil mood in the country that time.

Driving through the districts over the weekend, one could not have missed the fact that the main Opposition in the State, the Bharatiya Janata Party had a problem in getting candidates with some standing in most of the constituencies. In the process it had to either settle for those who lost the election in 1998 or had to adopt the runner up who fought as Independent as the party nominee.

Curiously enough, the BJP may have to struggle to be the main rival to the Congress in many of the constituencies in this region where unlike in the rest of Rajasthan, Independents too get elected. As such the CPI(M) which has its lone seat in the region has already claimed that it would replace the BJP as the second party.

In Pilani seat the BJP has given ticket to Mool Singh, who had come third behind an Independent in 1998 to fight against the sitting Congress MLA, Shravan Kumar while in Surajgarh then runner up, Sundar Lal, has been re-nominated. In Khetri the party has adopted Datta Ram, who had come second against the sitting MLA and Minister, Jitendra Singh, fighting as an Independent.

In Jhunjhunu district, the Congress had won six of the seven seats leaving the lone seat of Jhunjhunu to Independent, Sumitra Singh. This time the party has given ticket to Sumitra Singh, leading to a wave of protests from the partymen. Her rival of 1998 election, Brajendra Ola, son of the senior Congress leader Sis Ram Ola is the Congress nominee this time as well.

In Gudha seat, the BJP has re-nominated Ram Niwas who had lost to the Congress veteran, Shivnath Singh, while in Nawalgarh where the party had come third, the loser that time has been dropped for a new face, Vishnu Santhla.

The party has fielded Krishna Kumar Janu from Mandawa where it had no candidate in 1998.

The BJP veteran and former Deputy Chief Minister, Harishankar Bhabhra, is once again trying his luck against the sitting MLA and his old rival, Jaidev Prasad Indoria, in Rattangarh constituency in Churu district. The supporters of Mr.Bhabhra are hopeful here as there is opposition to the renomination of Mr.Indoria among the Congressmen. The last time the seat was lost by him by a small margin of 377 votes.

The Congress has renominated its other sitting MLAs in Sujangarh (SC), Sardarshahar and Sadulpur while it has given ticket to Chandra Shekhar Baid, son of the veteran party leader, Chandan Mal Baid, in place of the latter in Tara Nagar.

The Congress has replaced its previous candidate from Churu, Asq Ali Tak with Hussein Syed, a first timer in Assembly elections.

In Sikar district, where the Congress had won seven of the eight seats leaving the lone constituency of Dhod to the Communist Party of India (Marxist), the BJP has this time gone for many new faces. In Dhod seat, the party after dropping Richpal Singh Kavia -- its candidate in the previous elections -- has nominated Rameshwar Lal Rinwa.

The BJP has nominated Prem Singh Bajor, the losing candidate in Sikar for Neem Ka Thana seat. New faces have been introduced in Sikar, Datta Ramgarh, Sri Madhopur and Khandela. Of course, the thrust has been on nomination to more Jats in the region though it is doubtful whether this strategy will pay dividends to the party.

"The BJP giving so many seats to Jats would further weaken its position as it would alienate the small vote base the party has of Brahmins and Rajputs in the Shekhawati,'' predicts Vasudev Sharma, secretary of the CPI(M). As for the CPI (M) the party is in an effort to replace BJP as the number two in Shekhawati region.

"We are emerging to be alternative to the BJP in the region,'' Prof. Sharma, presently camping in the area, claimed. Not surprisingly eight of the 18 seats the CPI (M) is fighting in Rajasthan is in the Shekhawati region.

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