Congress to begin Rajasthan assembly poll campaign from Baran on Oct 16

Congress party will begin its election campaign for the upcoming assembly election in the state from October 16 with 'Kaam kiya dil se, Congress fir se' as its slogan.

Keeping the Eastern Rajasthan Canal Project (ERCP) on its priority list, the party will begin from Baran district and cover 13 districts of eastern Rajasthan where the canal is proposed for meeting out drinking and irrigation water for the people.

Jhalawar, Baran, Kota, Bundi, Sawai Madhopur, Ajmer, Tonk, Jaipur, Dausa, Karauli, Alwar, Bharatpur and Dholpur will be part of Congress' poll campaign in eastern Rajasthan.

"Today we had a meeting with our leaders of eastern Rajasthan. As the chief minister said that we will start our election campaign from eastern Rajasthan against the BJP's betrayal on the formation of ERCP," Congress state in-charge Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa told reporters after a meeting.

"This is the misfortune of Rajasthan that despite Shekhawat sahab (Jal Shakti Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat) being the minister, the state could not get the project. Before talking about the entire country, they should have looked into their home state," Randhawa said.

Randhawa said the party is upbeat about the upcoming assembly elections. He added that under his tenure as the Congress' state in-charge, all party leaders have come together.

Congress state president Govind Singh Dotasra the party will cover two districts everyday and hold a big public meeting in one of the districts. Before commencement of the campaign, people will be sensitised at block level till October 15.

He said that the Congress government has fulfilled 98 per cent of the promises made in its manifesto and the next manifesto will be prepared on the basis of the 'Vision 2030' document.

The schemes of the Congress government have had a positive impact on the people, and there is no anti-incumbency, he said.

Dotasra said there was factionalism within the BJP, and added that the party has no answer to the schemes of the Gehlot government.

At the Congress Working Meeting (CWC) meeting, which is scheduled to be held in Delhi on Monday, state election committee will present the names of potential poll candidates to the screening committee for consideration, Dotasra said.

The final list of candidates contesting the polls will only be released when the high command decides on the central election committee meeting.

Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot said that the party will go in the polls with slogan 'Kaam kiya dil se, Congress fir se.'

Gehlot also spoke about Maduram Jaipal whose picture was shown in a BJP poster under its campaign 'Nahi Sahega Rajasthan'.

The poster, which shows the photo of a farmer and claims that the land of more than 19,000 farmers in Rajasthan was auctioned after they failed to repay their bank loans, has been plastered in several parts of the state.

The farmer, Madhuram Jaipal of Jaisalmer, had alleged that his photo was misused by the BJP in the poster.

Gehlot said Jaipal has urged that his posters be removed as he was feeling insulted.

"This is the face of the BJP. We will show this face. Madhuram is the face," Gehlot said.