JAIPUR: Winning chances appear to have been the sole consideration for the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party in Rajasthan to nominate Divya Singh as the party candidate for the upcoming by-election from the Deeg constituency. Divya Singh, wife of Vishvendra Singh, a scion of the former Bharatpur royal family, was till recently the state vice-president of the Indian National Lok Dal, while her husband is the BJP MP from Bharatpur.

Deeg has been a pocket-borough of the Bharatpur royal family for many years. Arun Singh, whose death last month necessitated the by-poll, had won the election in 2003 on INLD ticket with the blessings of Vishvendra Singh, his cousin. On earlier occasions Arun Singh used to win from Deeg as Independent.

The Congress has fielded Laxman Singh, who had unsuccessfully fought Arun Singh in both 1998 and 2003 from Deeg as its candidate. Two times sarpanch and once Pradhan from the area, Laxman Singh had lost to Arun Singh by 99 votes in 1998 though the losing margin increased to 4000 votes in the latest polls.

By Thursday -- the last day for filing nominations for the by-election scheduled for May 8 -- eight persons, including nominees of the Janata Dal (United) and Rashtriya Janata Dal had filed their nominations though INLD has no candidate. The Bahujan Samaj Party, which too has some following in the area, has also kept away. Laxman Singh filed his nomination papers in the presence of Pradesh Congress Committee president B.D.Kalla on Thursday.

Divya Singh's return to the BJP fold indicates a longer stay of her husband in the party. There were rumours of Vishvendra Singh planning to quit the BJP to either return to the Congress or lead a third front grouping in the State. As such Mr.Singh has been in and out of most of the parties including the Congress and the Janata Dal during V.P.Singh's tenure as Prime Minister.

The ruling BJP surely went out of the way to "grab" Divya Singh, a former party MP from Bharatpur for the current by-poll. Ms.Singh had joined INLD during the run-up for the Assembly elections in the State in 2003 when Om Prakash Chautala, fired by the ambition of emerging a kingmaker in Rajasthan, recruited nominees from various parties including the Communist Party of India (Marxist), to fight elections on his party's symbol.

It is being pointed out that Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje does not want to leave anything to chance and let her winning spree in the State— which started with the 2003 Assembly polls -- to come to an end. A section of BJP leaders in Bharatpur are said to be not comfortable with the way the royalty had been accommodated.

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