Gehlot, Soni, Patel convinced Sonia to field Pilot

Sonia approved the strategy to pit Rama Pilot against Vasundhra which was aimed at confining her to Jhalrapatan constituency during the elections, writes KS Tomar.

Ambica Soni, Ahmed Patel and Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot played a vital role in convincing All India Congress Committee President Sonia Gandhi to field Rama Pilot against State BJP chief Vasundhra Raje from Jhalarapatan Assembly constituency in Jhalawar district.

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According to highly placed sources, Sonia approved the strategy to pit Rama Pilot against Vasundhra which was aimed at confining her to Jhalrapatan constituency during the elections.

But Raje may prove these strategists wrong as she has declared to tour entire State to shoulder the responsibility to help party nominees in all districts. Second, Raje has a strong hold in Jhalrapatan, as evident from the victory margin in this constituency during the past four elections.

Raje was victorious for 5th time in 1999 Lok Sabha polls and Congress nominee, always lagged behind in the Jhalrapatan :1991(26,000 votes), 1996(16,000 votes), 1998(17,000) and 1999(28,000 votes), since Congress, so far, never fielded a serious contnder against her.

It is a well-known fact that late Rajesh Pilot was a close friend of Ahmed Patel who reportedly played crucial role in the allotment of the ticket to Rama Pilot. Soni and Ashok Gehlot also supported him which made this task easy. Soni and Gehlot worked in tandem during the distribution of the tickets which helped the latter to corner major share of the cake.

Observers feel that Rama may face the tag of being an ‘outsider’ and BJP may exploit it to the hilt during election campaign. Late Rajesh Pilot was undoubtedly popular amongst his Gujjar community in Rajasthan as well as other northern states which may not hold true for his wife. Rama is yet to establish her name beyond Dausa parliamentary constituency.

Sources said Sonia‘s decision to field Rama may prove a blessing in disguise for her besides serving twin purpose. She may like to enter State politics again and she would definitely get a berth in the Ministry provided Congress retains power in Rajasthan and she wins the seat.

Second, it may not make much difference to her present status as MP of Lok Sabha if she loses the election but her victory will pave the way for her son Sachin pilot to contest from Dausa Lok Sabha seat.