Rajasthan Congress chief faults BJP over Anta bypoll, says his party will score big win

People of the state now feel cheated as none of the promises made by the BJP before coming to power have been fulfilled, Rajasthan Congress Chief Dostara said.

Bundi: Rajasthan Pradesh Congress Committee chief Govind Singh Dotasara said on Saturday his party will win the Anta bypoll by a huge margin and faulted the BJP's decision to pick a candidate with a criminal background, which has necessitated the election.

Dostara was speaking to PTI at the Bundi Circuit House, accompanied by local Congress MLA Harimohan Sharma, before leaving for campaigning in Anta, where the bypoll is scheduled for November 11.

The Anta assembly seat fell vacant after BJP MLA Kanwarlal Meena was disqualified following a conviction in a 20-year-old case. He has been sentenced to three years’ imprisonment.

The RPCC chief said the BJP's wrong decision has "burdened the public with Rs 200 crore that could have been used for development works".

He also demanded the resignation of the entire state Cabinet over "frequent tragedies claiming innocent lives", referring to a surge in horrific road accidents and fire incidents in the state.

“It was a wrong decision by the BJP to nominate a candidate with a criminal background and get him elected with big promises. The bypoll within just two years is the result of that wrong decision," he said.

People of the state now feel cheated as none of the promises made by the BJP before coming to power have been fulfilled, Dostara said.

He also alleged that the BJP government stopped several welfare schemes launched by the previous Congress government.

“The enrolment of students in government schools has dropped from one crore to 67 lakh. Over 300 government English-medium schools have been shut. People are angry with this government, and as Rahul Gandhi exposed the BJP’s ‘vote theft’, the public now believes Modi became prime minister for the third time through vote theft,” he claimed.

Targeting BJP's chief whip Jogeshwar Garg, Dotasara said, “The state is witnessing repeated tragedies killing innocent people, yet a Cabinet-rank minister like Garg cites astrologers’ predictions. When the government itself believes in astrologers to explain such incidents, one can imagine what the state has been reduced to.”

Garg had earlier said, “astrologers had forecast an increase in the accidents this year”, drawing flak for the remark.

On being asked if the Congress had failed to mount pressure for resignations despite multiple tragedies, Dotasara denied the charge. “No, the Congress has not failed. The resignation should come from the entire BJP government; it is a defective government,” he said.

He alleged that the BJP government “was formed through parchis (paper slips), not through consultation with elected representatives”.

Responding to state Agriculture Minister Kirodi Lal Meena’s claim that Rs 1,700 crore had been paid as compensation to farmers for crop damage, Dotasara said it was a result of the Congress’s protests and demonstrations in Kota, Bundi, and Bhilwara.

He also claimed that “the RSS and BJP never chant Vande Mataram”, adding that “it is the Congress and its Seva