Sanganer, abutting Jaipur’s airport, has been a BJP stronghold for well over a decade. But things have changed this time around.
The reason: BJP “rebel” Ghanshyam Tiwari has queered the pitch for the ruling party, lending the Congress hopes of wresting the suburban seat.
Mr. Tiwari, however, sees himself not as a spoiler but as the potential winner.
A six-time MLA, Mr. Tiwari had, in 2013, won the seat for the BJP with the highest margin in Rajasthan by defeating the Congress’s Sanjay Bapna by 63,350 votes. In terms of vote share, he polled 66%, or two-thirds of all the votes cast.
But Mr. Tiwari, a former Education Minister of Rajasthan, left the party in a huff after differences with Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje and formed his own party — Bharat Vahini.
He accused Ms. Raje of “authoritarianism”, likening the last four years of her rule to the Emergency.
While the BJP has fielded Jaipur Mayor Ashok Lahoti this time, the Congress is represented by former student leader Pushpendra Bharadwaj.
Advantage Congress?
Local people opined that Mr. Lahoti may bear the brunt of the turn of events and that the Congress may be able to wrest the seat from the BJP this time around. Some, however, said the BJP was still no pushover here, Mr. Tiwari’s rebellion notwithstanding.
Well into his 50s, Dinesh Sharma, a Sanganer resident, said it was a mistake on the part of the BJP to let Mr. Tiwari quit the party.
“He has been very popular here for long. Ashok Lahoti’s stature does not match up to Ghanshyam Tiwari’s,” he said, complaining also about the business lost in recent years in the wake of demonetisation and the introduction of GST.
Asked if Mr. Tiwari would not split Brahmin votes that may have gone to Mr. Bharadwaj, Mr. Sharma predicted that the Congress and Mr. Tiwari would both be ahead of the BJP here. “The fight is between the Congress and Ghanshyam Tiwari,” he contended.
A group of youngsters also predicted a setback for the BJP here.
“Pushpendra Bharadwaj has been a student leader and is young,” said Rajesh Lamba, a college student from the Jat caste who was brought up in the Assembly constituency. “The youth would prefer him. The BJP’s Mayor will find it difficult to win here.”
Jaipur, however, has been a BJP stronghold and the opinions of the city’s residents are still split between the BJP and the Congress, seeming to belie the popular perception outside the State that this election may mark a clear Congress wave in Rajasthan.
Asked by The Hindu what prompted his break with the BJP, Mr. Tiwari said: “I have fundamental disagreements with the CM. I believe in democracy and she believes in Rajshahi [monarchy].”
Mr. Tiwari’s party has also allied with the The Rashtriya Loktantrik Party founded by Jat leader Hanuman Beniwal — another politician who parted ways with the BJP.
