All eyes on Jhalrapatan as Cong hopes Jashwant’s son will capitalise on Rajput sentiments
It is as interesting as it gets. Manvendra Singh, ex-BJP MP and son of the saffron party’s veteran Jaswant Singh, will take on Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje as the candidate of arch-rival Congress — the party that he joined last month — for the December 7 Assembly polls from Jhalrapatan constituency.
The contest between the two will be one of the most keenly observed ones given their acrimonious past as Manvendra sees Raje as the reason for his father’s image fall in the party. Whether the son will avenge the insult meted out to his father, the BJP old guard who is in coma for the last four years, will only be known on December 11 when the results will be out.
The Congress hopes to pin down the Chief Minister in her constituency and also seeks to cash in on the perceived Rajput sentiments against her. But Raje looked unperturbed as she said, “The Congress could not find any candidate and he (Manvendra) was to be given ticket from somewhere and therefore, he was sent here (Jhalrapatan). But they should know that it is not a fight of one person, this is a contest fought by Jhalawar and Rajasthan, which is a family.”
Raje has won Jhalrapatan since 2003, when the Congress fielded Rama Pilot, mother of current Rajasthan Congress president Sachin Pilot. In 2013, Congress fielded a woman Rajput candidate Meenakshi Chandrawat hoping to get some Rajput votes but lost the seat with Raje retaining the seat with a margin of 60,896 votes by securing 63.14 per cent of total 2,28,977 votes.
The BJP, which is feeling a little edgy in Rajasthan with the State’s history of not repeating a Government twice, Manvendra’s choice by the Congress is seen as an attempt to use the lineage and heritage of BJP’s war horse Jaswant to further rattle the opponent and its Chief Ministerial candidate. Manvendra, who is a sitting MLA from Sheo (Barmer), had also won Barmer Lok Sabha seat in 2004.
Manvendra played out the emotional card of “self-respect” of the Rajput community to put his erstwhile party in the defensive. “I’m ready for the challenge,” he said and claimed that people of Rajasthan will take revenge on the BJP for insulting Rajput leader Jaswant.
Jaswant was expelled by the BJP for contesting 2014 Lok Sabha poll from Barmer after he was denied ticket by the party. Manvendra, who campaigned for his father then, was also suspended.
He had accused Raje and a few central leaders of the BJP for denying his father a Lok Sabha ticket.
The rift with Raje goes back to 2007 when Jaswant’s wife Sheetal Kanwar had filed a case against the former for portraying herself as Goddess Annapurna which hurt Hindu sentiments. Soon after a controversy broke out that at a get-together in Jaswant’s house opium-laced milk was served to the guests and an FIR was filed and an enquiry was ordered by the Raje administration.
Manvendra and the BJP sought to reconcile over a period with the party also revoking his suspension but he was kept on the sidelines and not given the importance that the 54-year-old Rajput expected from the party. His father, meanwhile, has been in coma for last four years.
Manvendra quit the BJP on September 22 after taking the Rajput community in confidence and coining the tagline “Kamal Ka Phool, Hamaari Bhool” (lotus was my mistake).
His name was released by the Congress on Saturday in its second list of 32 candidates for the Rajasthan Assembly elections for 200 Assembly seats.
The Congress had released its first list of 152 candidate on Thursday. Ahead of its rivals, the BJP released the third list of 8 candidates for upcoming Rajasthan Assembly elections. Earlier, the BJP had released its first list of 131 and second of 31 candidates for Rajasthan Assembly.
“I’m honoured that Rahul & Congress CEC thought it useful for me to contest & I’m touched by responsibility shown towards me. I accept the responsibility & will run a fair campaign,” Manvendra said.
Reacting to the Congress announcement, State BJP president Madan Lal Saini said the decision will have no impact and the party will retain the seat.
He said Manvendra, who left the BJP and joined the Congress last month, is not a big name and will face defeat. Saini said being born in a Rajput family does not give anybody a “big name”.
By the look of it, it is a battle between Raje’s ‘Gaurav Yatra’ versus Manvendra ‘Swabhiman Yatra’.
