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BJP, Congress give preference to new faces

Sunny Sebastian

Release list of 43 and 25 candidates for Assembly polls

BJP leaves four seats for Janata Dal (United)
Sarva Brahmin Mahasabha chief gets ticket

JAIPUR: The Bharatiya Janata Party on Thursday released its second list of 43 candidates for the Rajasthan Assembly elections while the Congress, which had announced two lists earlier, brought out another list of 25 nominees late on Wednesday night. With this the Congress has so far announced candidates for 171 seats out of a total of 200 for the polls scheduled for December 4.

The BJP’s first list, which contained 94 names, was released last Sunday. The party is yet to declare the rest of the 63 names.

The BJP, which was ahead of the Congress in terms of the number of women candidates in the first list itself, has now allocated tickets to ten more women, taking the total number to 24. The list this time includes the names of the Speaker of the Assembly, Sumitra Singh, who has been shifted from her Jhunjhunu constituency to Mandawa and Krishnendra Kaur, alias Deepa, a former MP and member of the erstwhile Bharatpur royal family. Ms. Kaur, MLA from Nadbai, has been re-nominated for the seat.

The BJP list has two Ministers of the Vasundhara Raje Cabinet, Vasudev Devnani (Ajmer North) and Surendrapal Singh T.T (Srikaranpur), while two other Ministers, Bhawani Joshi and Babulal Verma, along with ten other sitting MLAs find no place. A former Speaker, Samarathlal Meena, has been re-nominated for Rajgarh-Laxmangarh seat in Alwar district while former Minister Harlal Singh Kharra has been given the ticket for Srimadhopur in Sikar district. The list has five sitting MLAs besides the Ministers and the Speaker.

“We wanted to include more young faces in the list,” noted Gopinath Munde, BJP general secretary in charge for Rajasthan, while releasing the list in Delhi.

“The second list has a majority of new faces and we have left four seats for our National Democratic Alliance partner, Janata Dal (United),” Mr. Munde informed. The seats earmarked for the Janata Dal (U) are: Kushalgarh and Bagidora, two seats presently held by the party in Banswara district, along with Kotputli (Jaipur district) and Tijara (Alwar district).

The BJP list includes the name of Gopal Pacherwal, former State president of the Samata Party and former MP from Tonk. Mr. Pacherwal, who joined the BJP a few months ago, has been granted a ticket for Keshoraipatan (SC) in Bundi district. The party nominee from Lalsot is Rajkumar Meena, father of Veerendra Meena, a former member of the Raje Council of Ministers. Kunjilal Meena, a former MP, has been given ticket from Bamanwas (ST).

The surprises

The Congress list of 25 has 17 new faces along with the name of sitting MP from Alwar, Karan Singh Yadav. The list contains three women—Param Navdeep Singh (Sangaria), Prabhawati Devi (Bassi-ST), and Kanta Garasia (Ghati-ST). Dr. Navedeep Singh, wife of an Indian Police Service officer of Rajasthan cadre, had been the former Pradesh Congress Committee spokesperson. Ms. Garasia is the daughter of the late socialist and MP Heera Bai. With this, the number of total women candidates in the Congress has gone up to 20.

The surprises in the Congress list include the candidature of Suresh Misra, president of the Sarva Brahmin Mahasabha, who had been spearheading the agitation for reservation for economically backward among the forward castes. Mr. Misra’s entry into the Congress two months ago had coincided with that of Lokendra Singh Kalvi, leader of Karni Sena, a Kshtriya outfit, also agitating for reservations. Mr. Misra now will fight against senior BJP Minister Ghanshyam Tiwari in Sanganer seat.

Another shocker for the old-timers in the party is the accommodation of Gangajal Meel, who had unsuccessfully fought from Pilibanga in Sriganganagar district on the BJP ticket. Mr. Meel, brother of Jat Mahasabha leader Rajaram Meel, gets the ticket for Suratgarh. Satpal Meena (Lalsot) and Prabhawati Devi (Bassi) are relatives of IAS officers serving outside Rajasthan.

The missing names include former Deputy Chief Minister Banwarilal Bairwa (Niwai-SC), former Ministers Parsadilal Meena, P. C. Vishnoi and former Parliamentary Secretary Vijaylakshmi Vishnoi.

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