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A shot in the arm for Vasundhara Raje

Sunny Sebastian

Congress fails perform well in the areas represented by its three Union Ministers

JAIPUR: The election results from 126 civic bodies involving 32 lakh urban voters in Rajasthan have come as a shot in the arm for Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje. The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party has managed to get control over an unprecedented number of 81 civic bodies, including the municipal corporation of Ajmer, by electing its chairpersons.

The Congress Party, which managed to win from 1,044 wards out of a total of 3,096 wards which went to polls this time, had to be satisfied with getting its nominees elected in 33 civic bodies, including the municipal corporation of Bhilwara.

The poll outcome only suggests the continuance of the winning spree of Ms.Raje, which commenced in November 2003 when the BJP first time crossed the 100- seat mark in the Rajasthan Assembly to win 120 seats. Thereafter the BJP, in fact, did not lose any major poll event in the State, be it the Lok Sabha elections in 2004 or the civic body elections or the by-elections to the Assembly which were held later. In the panchayat elections held early this year, the Congress showed some signs of revival but the party, in the absence of a leader with a pan Rajasthan image, could not regain its fighting spirit.

The Opposition parties, the Congress and the Left may attribute the BJP victory to the `use-misuse' of power as the ruling party had a clear majority only in 41 civic bodies and had won from 1319 wards but it managed to capture as many as 81. The BJP had a lead over the Congress in another 33 civic bodies but in the rest it was the "satta''(power) which seemingly helped it to break the Congress ranks and the Independents.

The Congress too did manage to capture more as, against a clear majority in 10 civic bodies, it got its nominees elected from 33 municipalities. The party managers surely floundered in as many as seven places where both the parties had an equal number of members and the BJP walked away with six of them.

The BJP had a clean sweep in Hadauti region(Kota, Jhalawar, Baran, Bundi) and wrested towns like Dausa, Dholpur, Karauli and Baran from the Congress. The ruling party performed uniformly in Marwar (West Rajasthan), Mewar(South) and the Braj(East) and also in the districts of Sriganganagar, Hanumangarh and Bikaner where the farmers' agitation is on.

The Congress did not perform well in the areas represented by its three Union Ministers, Natwar Singh(Bharatpur), Sisram Ola(Jhunjhunu) and Namonarain Meena(Sawai Madhopur). The only place the Congress could make a come back this time was Nagaur district, considered to be the Jat heartland. The party won Merta, Nagaur, Kuchera, Ladnu and Parbatsar leaving Mundwa to an Independent and Kuchaman City and Nawan to the BJP.

The political impact of the results is likely to be more at the organizational level for both the BJP and the Congress. The State BJP president, Lalit Kishore Chaturvediwould be in a better position to bargain with his Central leadership when it comes to choice of the next party chief, which is due. As for the Congress, the party will have to take a decision on the Leader of the Legislature Party sooner than later.

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