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Rajasthan assembly election: By fielding MP Sonaram, BJP eyes Barmer seat
Sonaram Choudhary won from the Barmer Lok Sabha seat in 2014, defeating former union minister Jaswant Singh. The BJP won the Barmer assembly seat once in
By fielding MP colonel Sonaram Choudhary as a candidate for the Barmer assembly constituency, the BJP has made it clear that party is serious about wresting the seat from the Congress, analysts said.
Choudhary won from the Barmer Lok Sabha seat in 2014, defeating former union minister Jaswant Singh. The BJP won the Barmer assembly seat once in 2003. Even in the 2013 assembly elections when the BJP got a thumping majority in Rajasthan, it could not make a dent in this Congress stronghold.
Political analyst Shankarlal Dhariwal said, “After Manvendra Singh quit the BJP, colonel Sonaram Choudhary was the only hope for the BJP for the 2019 Lok Sabha election. But the party has fielded Choudhary from the Barmer assembly seat. This is a clear indication that the wants to win this seat at any cost.”
Sheo MLA Manvendra Singh, son of Jaswant Singh, joined the Congress. He has said he will contest from the Barmer Lok Sabha seat.
The Congress had won Barmer assembly seat first in
1967 and then in 1967, 1972, 1977 and 1980. The Ram Rajya Parishad won the seat in 1951 and
1957, and an independent in 1962. The Lok Dal won the seat in 1985, the Janata Dal in 1990 and an independent in 1993.
The BJP mostly banked on the Jats, a numerically dominant community in Barmer assembly seat. The Congress had fielded a candidate from the Jain community, whose numbers are five times less than that of Jats. Still the BJP could not win the seat.
The BJP had changed candidates for the seat in every election. In 2003, Congress rebel Tagaram Choudhary won the seat for the BJP, but he was replaced by Mradurekha Choudhary in 2008. The BJP had first announced ticket for veteran Jat leader Gangaram Choudhary who had won the Barmer seat three times. At the last moment, he was denied ticket and Mradurekha was fielded. A slighted Gangaram opposed Mradurekha, leading to the BJP’S loss to Congress’ Mevaram Jain.
In 2013, the BJP replaced Mradurekha with Priyanka Choudhary, granddaughter of Gangaram. She lost to Jain. The BJP refused ticket to Priyanka for the December 7 assembly polls and fielded colonel Sonaram, the only parliamentarian in the party’s first list in Rajasthan.
It will be colonel Sonaram’s second stint with the state politics.
Earlier, he had contested the assembly election on Congress ticket from Baitu assembly seat in 2003 and 2008. Both times he contested against BJP’S Kailash Choudhary.
He won in 2003, but lost in 2008. After his defeat in the 2008 election, colonel Sonaram quit the Congress and joined BJP ahead of the Lok Sabha polls.
