Cong candidates gun for top leaders over rout in R'than

Rajasthan Congress may have suffered massive back-to-back defeats in Assembly and Lok Sabha elections but nothing seems to have changed among the party leaders and workers. 

This was evident from reactions and feedback given by party’s Lok Sabha candidates and district and block office-bearers on the first day of review meeting held to find out reasons for party’s defeat in the polls.  Accepting the influence of Modi wave, most leaders blamed the top leadership and non-cooperation from peer leaders for the worst ever performance of the party in Rajasthan. 

Udai Lal Anjana, Lok Sabha candidate from Jalore, held former chief minister Gehlot responsible for the defeat in both Assembly and Lok Sabha elections. 

“Former chief minister Ashok Gehlot, his policies and his caste politics is responsible for the situation. People were so much frustrated that they rejected the party in Assembly and preferred not to vote for Congress even in Lok Sabha polls,” said Udai Lal Anjana.

Shankar Pannu, one of the Congress candidates selected through primaries, blamed local office-bearers of district and block Congress committees for his defeat.

Defeatist

“Party workers accepted defeat even before the elections. They were given financial assistance for campaigning. But none of them came out to campaign for the party. In such a situation what performance you can expect,” said Shankar Pannu, party’s candidate from Bikaner.  

Other candidates like Lakhi Ram from Dholpur- Karauli, Pratap Punia from Churu and Mahesh Joshi from Jaipur too blamed the legislators and party office-bearers for their defeat. 

If party workers close to Mahesh Joshi are to be believed, Joshi could not find booth-agents at over 30 per cent polling stations in his constituency. 

Internal politics in Jaipur district level Congress, Mahesh Joshi and eight legislators from Jaipur city marred all the prospects for the party following which Joshi was defeated by the highest margin of 5 lakh votes. 

Interestingly out of 25, only 11 candidates came for the feedback meeting. Leaders informed that five other leaders gave their feedback in advance in New Delhi and rest could not come.

The review meeting started in the morning with Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) Chief Sachin Pilot and state in-charge Gurudas Kamat conducting one to one meetings with the candidates and office-bearers.

The two-day feedback session will conclude on Saturday. 

Reshuffle

Party sources said a massive reshuffle will soon take place in PCC. The entire old team is likely to be replaced by new faces and confidants of Sachin Pilot. This is evident from the fact that none of the PCC office-bearers have been called for the review meeting.