New Delhi: The Congress will devise new criteria based on social factors, caste equations and winnability to short-list candidates in Rajasthan after an internal survey has shown anti-incumbency against 30 per cent of party MLAs. “We will devise new criteria for the short-listing of candidates based on social factors, caste equations and the winnability factor in the wake of new findings. This will take care of the anti-incumbency factor if any,” AICC secretary in- charge of Rajasthan Virendra Rathore told ETV Bharat.
His colleague AICC secretary in-charge of Rajasthan Qazi Nizamuddin said that a certain percentage of anti-incumbency is natural when a party has been in power for five years. “There may be anti-incumbency against some of the lawmakers. That is expected for a party in power. The voters may not be impressed with some lawmakers. But, there is no anti-incumbency against the party as a whole. People appreciate the development work done and the social welfare schemes started by the Gehlot government,” Qazi told ETV Bharat.
The AICC functionary blamed the BJP and some disgruntled elements within the Congress for amplifying reports of anti-incumbency. “The BJP is finding it hard to fight the Gehlot government. Hence, they are spreading rumors about anti-incumbency to dent the Congress. Within our party, some people, who know they are not getting a ticket, may also be behind such misinformation,” alleged Qazi.
Also read: Gehlot enslaving MLAs to save his chair: Ramesh Bidhuri slams Rajasthan govt over corruption
In the 2018 Assembly polls, the Congress had won 100 out of 200 seats. As per the internal surveys conducted by the AICC, at least 30 lawmakers face anti-incumbency and may lose their nominations. Interestingly, there is no anti-incumbency against the grand old party, which is trying to defy a three-decades-old trend of rotating governments every five years.
Now, many of the lawmakers whose necks are on the block, have urged the high command to consider the fact that they remained loyal when the party faced a revolt, said party insiders. Interestingly, the loyalty factor is being invoked by the MLAs belonging to the camps of both Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot and his former deputy Sachin Pilot, the insiders said.
Pilot had led a revolt, along with around 20 of his supporting lawmakers in 2020, when they camped in a resort in Manesar, Haryana in a bid to outwit the Chief Minister while Gehlot’s followers had defied the high command in 2022 when the Congress wanted to bring about a leadership change in the state ahead of the presidential polls.
Pilot had explained his revolt as taking up the genuine concerns of the party functionaries while Gehlot had apologised to former party chief Sonia Gandhi over the conduct of his supporting lawmakers. Now, both the Gehlot and Pilot camps are pleading with the high command that lawmakers of the rival group should lose a ticket if that were to happen because of the anti-incumbency factor. Gehlot, who was in Delhi for a CWC meeting on Monday, met former Congress chief Sonia Gandhi on Tuesday over the issue amid hinted that the party’s Central Election Committee chaired by President Mallikarjun Kharge is expected to meet this weekend to finalise candidates in Rajasthan.
