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High stakes in Rajasthan

Special Correspondent

JAIPUR: The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party and the Opposition Congress in Rajasthan have taken steps to keep their flock together for the Presidential election scheduled for Thursday.

While the BJP has entrusted each Minister with the responsibility of 15 MLAs, senior Congress leaders have held dinner meetings to keep the morale of party members high. The State has high stakes as both candidates — United Progressive Alliance-Left nominee Pratibha Patil and National Democratic Alliance-backed Bhairon Singh Shekhawat — are associated with it.

There was some excitement in the BJP camp as three of the Indian National Lok Dal MLAs, despite their party’s decision to abstain from voting along with the rest of the Third Front, pledged their support to Mr. Shekhawat. Two Janata Dal(United) MLAs, Fateh Singh and Jeetmal Khat, have also announced their support. Mr. Shekhawat will also get the support of Devi Singh Bhati of the Samajik Nyaya Manch, besides the votes of some of the 12 Independents.

The BJP Legislature Party meeting, held here during the day in the presence of party in-charge Gopinath Munde and State president Mahesh Sharma, was attended by 129 MLAs though invitations were sent to 135. The party’s strength in the 200-member Assembly is 122.

However, the BJP’s worry is its own half a dozen MLAs had been placed under suspension for one or the other reason. Two of them — Prahlad Gunjal and Attar Singh Bhadana — were suspended during the Gujjar agitation two months ago. Barring Surendra Singh Rathore, a vocal critic of Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje, others were invited for the meeting. All of them, including Mr. Rathore, reportedly reiterated their support for Mr. Shekhawat.

The Congress is banking on the votes of 60 MLAs, including two Bahujan Samaj Party MLAs, Amra Ram of the CPI(M), the lone Lok Janshakti Party MLA, Ranbir Gudda, and two associated MLAs, Pratibha Singh and Hangami Lal. The party has 55 MLAs, but one of them — Natwar Singh’s son Jagat Singh — is under suspension.

The party’s dinner strategy in support of its nominee started with one hosted by Leader of the Opposition Ramnarain Choudhary at his residence on Monday. Pradesh Congress Committee president B.D. Kalla hosted the second dinner at the Indira Gandhi Bhavan, the party headquarters, on Tuesday. Wednesday’s dinner was to be hosted by the former Chief Minister and party general secretary, Ashok Gehlot.

Mr. Gehlot told The Hindu that the get-together would be the finale for the campaign for Ms. Patil, whose victory was a foregone conclusion. “By now, the whole country is aware of the ‘past’ of the NDA nominee, who , even after promising not to make any personal allegations against his rival, got BJP leaders, Sushma Swaraj, Arun Jaitley and Ravishanker Prasad to unleash a vilification campaign,” he said.

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High stakes in Rajasthan

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