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Monday, May 04, 2009
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Congress sees hope in BJP citadel

SUNNY SEBASTIAN
Jhalawar

The Jhalawar Lok Sabha constituency, once considered a citadel of the Bharatiya Janata Party — thanks to the political clout of the Scindia family — is set for a keen contest between the sitting MP Dushyant Singh, son of former Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje, and Congress newcomer Urmila Jain.

As the farmers complete a good orange harvest in the citrus growing subdivisions of Bhawani Mandi, Jhalawar and Pirawa — Jhalawar is known as “Small Nagpur” because of its oranges — there is hope in the hearts of the Congress leaders.

The reason for the growing optimism in the party, which returned to power in the State in the November 2008 election, is its performance in the Assembly segments in the Jhalawar Lok Sabha seat.

Upbeat in Hadauti

The mood is so upbeat in the Congress leadership about the party prospects in the Hadauti region (districts of Kota, Bundi, Baran and Jhalawar) that Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot and Pradesh Congress Committee president C.P. Joshi opted to launch the State-level campaign for the Lok Sabha elections on March 25 from here.

The Hadauti region has two Parliamentary constituencies — Kota and Jhalawar — both of which the BJP won in 2004.

Ms. Raje represented Jhalawar constituency five times before the 2004 election when her son Dushyant Singh took over her mantle to win the seat with a margin of 1.76 lakh votes against his Congress rival Sanjay Gujjar.

The winner polled 53.53 per cent of the votes. In the 1999 elections, Ms. Raje won the seat with a margin of 2.52 lakhs. Her rival then was the late Congress leader Abrar Ahmed.

The present Congress candidate, Urmila Jain, though a first timer, has a solid base in Baran district where her husband, Rajasthan’s Public Works Department Minister, Pramod Jain “Baya”, holds sway. The importance given by the Chief Minister to Mr. Jain, a first time Minister, can be gauged from his portfolio. The Jain couple is known in the district of Baran for their work among the poor, including organising the weddings of low income couples. The Congress did exceedingly well in Baran district in the Assembly polls winning from all four constituencies —Anta, Kishanganj (ST), Baran-Atru (SC) and Chhabra; in Jhalawar, the Congress and the BJP shared the honours by winning two each. Jhalrapatan was won by Ms. Raje herself with an impressive margin of 32,581 votes.

In Anta, Pramod Jain “Baya” managed a similar feat winning with a margin of 29,668 votes.

With the “Maharani” (Congress euphemism for Ms. Raje) seemingly out of favour in the region, the Congress is quick to ask the people to put an end to the reign of the “royals.” “I am not a Maharani. I do not have any royal lineage. I am one among you and I will remain with you,” said Ms. Urmila Jain at a public rally in Aklera.

However, Ms. Raje is not unduly perturbed. “We are going to fight the election the way we did the previous time. Who the candidate against us is immaterial as long us we have the support of the party workers,” she said.

Critics notwithstanding, Ms. Raje has carried out a lot of development in the area. For a district town, that too in a far-flung area bordering an equally backward region of Madhya Pradesh, Jhalawar shows many signs of modernity, including a stylish mini-secretariat and a state-of-the-art hospital. It is full of educational institutions with Ms. Raje getting a medical college, an engineering college, a law college and a horticulture college established here.

Corrections and Clarifications:

The seventh paragraph of a report "Congress sees hope in BJP citadel" ("Elections 2009" page, May 4, 2009) said that in the 1999 elections, Vasundhara Raje won the Jhalawar seat with a margin of 2.52 lakh votes.

In the same report, the accompanying graphic, and titled "Key Constituency/Jhalawar-Baran (Lok Sabha)", said that Dushyant Singh won in 2004, defeating Sanjay Gurjar of the Congress by 1.76 lakh votes.

The Special Correspondent clarifies: In the 1999 elections, Vasundhara Raje (BJP) polled 4,09,575 votes against 2,57,159 votes polled by Abrar Ahmed of the Congress The margin is 1.52 lakh votes. In 2004, her son Dushyant Singh (BJP) polled 3,03,845 votes against 2,22,266 votes polled by Congress nominee Sanjay Gurjar. The margin is 81,579 votes.

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