Poll-bound | The key strategists in Rajasthan's upcoming elections
In the Congress, CM Ashok Gehlot is holding the reins; in the BJP, while the high command proposes, on-ground leader of opposition Rajendra Rathore disposes
In a state conventionally known to vote out the incumbent government, the upcoming November 25 election is a close one for both the Bharatiya Janata Party as well as the Congress. The former has spared no effort in ensuring that it garners as many seats as possible, though it has not named its chief ministerial face. For the latter, it’s a mandate for the Ashok Gehlot government, which has brought in specific legislation aimed at the welfare of residents in these past five years alone. Let’s see who are the main strategists for each party’s campaign plans.
The Congress
This assembly election in Rajasthan is all about breaking the three-decade-old ‘tradition’ of change in government every five years. Three-time CM Ashok Gehlot with a political experience of around five decades is holding the reins to repeat the party government and break the tradition. From selecting the candidate to designing the election campaign and creating resources, the CM is leaving no stone unturned.
From the beginning of the election year, the CM has taken on populist measures — he brought in a separate agriculture budget in 2022 worth around ₹80,000 crores that was aimed at waiving off the loans of all the farmers, providing them with free electricity up to 2000 units monthly, setting up a farmers' welfare fund, life-insurance of the cattle.
A law was also brought by the CM in July 2023 to stop the auction of agricultural land of farmers who could not repay their loans taken from commercial banks in the state even as the opposition demanded a complete farm loan waiver. The Rajasthan State Farmers Debt Relief Commission Bill also aimed at taking “appropriate measures” to redress farmers’ grievances.
A new law to prevent paper leaks was passed in March 2022; an organised crime law was passed in July 2023; and, the same month, the piece de resistance, the Rajasthan Platform Based Gig Workers (Registration and Welfare) Bill was passed, drawing attention for its uniqueness. No other state in the country has provided social security to gig workers.
The bill seeks to register all gig workers and aggregators in the state, facilitate a guarantee of social security to gig workers, and give them an opportunity to air any grievances. A vital component of the bill is setting up a welfare board, which will have two members each from gig workers and aggregators to be nominated by the state government besides two civil servants. The board will ensure the registration of gig workers and aggregators operating in the state and establish a social security and welfare fund for gig workers. The bill states that the state government will maintain a database of the gig workers and generate a unique ID for every one of them.
A fee will also be levied on aggregators, “which shall be at such rate (per cent) of the value of each transaction related to a platform-based gig worker, as may be notified by the state government,” the bill stated.
The Mahatma Gandhi Minimum Guaranteed Income Act was also passed last July through which all families in the state will be able to get an employment guarantee of 125 days every year, and a minimum pension of ₹1,000 per month in case of aged, disabled, or single women.
At a time when the opposition had held the government accountable for rising inflation, deterioration of the farmers' financial status, unemployment, and the 12 paper-leak incidents, the new laws are Gehlot's effort to woo farmers, youth, labourers and government employees.
His government has also launched popular schemes including the sale of gas cylinders at ₹500 for the ones enrolled under the Union government's Ujjwala scheme, the Old Pension Scheme for the state government employees and free smartphones with free internet data for three years for around eight million women of the state.
A five-time MP from Jodhpur, Gehlot was elected to Lok Sabha from 1980 to 1998. He has been a member of the state assembly from 1998 till date (this is his fifth term). He was the state party chief thrice and has held many posts in the All India Congress Committee including its general secretary in-charge of Gujarat in 2017 to the party headquarters in Delhi in 2018.
In 2020, the state Congress faced a political crisis in the form of a rebellion from his former deputy CM Sachin Pilot and 18 MLAs. Pilot was later sacked from the post of deputy chief minister and party president. The issue was eventually resolved.
The BJP
Rajendra Rathore is the leader of opposition in the Rajasthan assembly but he is best known as the troubleshooter in the state unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). For the upcoming assembly elections, Rathore strengthened the party’s hold over difficult seats by bringing in some influential Congress leaders into the fold. Though the reins of the election campaign remain in the hands of the BJP high command in New Delhi, it is Rathore and Rajasthan in-charge Arun Singh who has helped execute the strategy on the ground.
Rathore’s strategist role came to the fore when he orchestrated the entry of Congress leaders from certain seats that the BJP was shaky in. For instance, Rathore got his friend, Jat leader Subhash Maharia, back into the BJP. Maharia will contest from the Laxmangarh seat against state Congress president Govind Dotasara. He also got Sanwarmal Maharia, a close aide of Dotasara, into the BJP which left political circles abuzz. Rathore is also responsible for bringing in Mahendra Sharma, a former Officer on Special Duty (OSD) of CM Ashok Gehlot and youth leader Ravindra Singholyh Bhati, former bureaucrats CM Meena, KC Verma, Kesar Singh Shekhawat, and Bhim Singh into the party fold. Former Congress CM Jagannath Pahadia’s son OP Pahadia, too, joined the BJP at Rathore’s prompting.
The 69-year-old began his political journey in student politics and was elected president of the students’ union at Rajasthan University, Jaipur in 1989. He fought his first assembly election from the Janata Party in 1980 and later, in 1985, from the Taranagar constituency, losing both times. He joined the Janata Dal in 1990 and fought the elections on the party ticket from the same constituency. This time he won.
In 1991, he joined the BJP and fought the 1993 assembly election on the party ticket from Churu. He became a junior minister in then chief minister Bhairon Singh Shekhawat's government. He was a cabinet minister in charge of portfolios like the Public Works Department, Health and Panchayati Raj in 2003 and 2013, both times with Vasundhara Raje as CM.
Rathore is a strong speaker and bases his speeches on facts. He also effectively counters the Congress government though he has the ability to get along with politicians across party lines. Sources said that it was this ability of his that drew the party high command’s attention, as they needed someone who could balance all the camps within the BJP itself, such as those led by leaders like Vasundhara Raje, CP Joshi, Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, Satish Poonia, Om Birla, and Diya Kumari.
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