Congress miles behind rivals

Has the Congress missed a rare opportunity to reclaim lost ground in Rajasthan?
The party is nowhere to be seen in the elections in this state. Be it rallies, posters or banners, its candidates are miles behind their BJP rivals. If party sources are to be believed, the candidates have been constrained by a severe cash crunch. With dim prospects, they are unable to generate resources while the party too has tightened its purse strings.
While the BJP’s national leaders have made several rounds, the Congress has had only two rallies by party vice-president Rahul Gandhi with only five days remaining in the first phase of polling for 20 seats. In fact, his rally in Barmer was cancelled while Congress president Sonia Gandhi is yet to make an appearance despite the fact that many party candidates sent requests to the central leadership that they preferred Mrs Gandhi to her son. It is true that historically the party that wins Assembly elections has an upper hand in the Lok Sabha too, and with the BJP getting a mammoth 163 seats in the Assembly of 200 and leading in 24 out of 25 Lok Sabha seats, the Congress’ tactics of utilising its resources and energy somewhere else make sense.
However, at the grassroots level, Congress workers are dismayed that the party has been giving the impression of leaving the field without putting up a challenge when even Independents have been giving the BJP a run for its money. Even the BJP camp there was surprised the Congress didn’t try to utilise its internal bickering over ticket distribution. “The Congress had a real chance in a couple of seats following the rebellion by Jaswant Singh and Subhash Maharia as well as indifference of party leaders in some other places, but it has failed to capitalise and allowed us to bounce back,” a BJP leader said.
In fact, some see it as a tactical move as there are reports that the party has deliberately toned down its campaign and asked its cadre to help Independents instead of the party’s official candidates after getting feedback about being pushed to third spot in some seats. There is speculation that Jaswant Singh in Barmer, Buta Singh in Jalore, Rajkumar Sharma in Jhunjhunu and Abhinesh Mahirishi in Churu have been receiving support from local Congress leaders after they got the hint from the party.
However, a section in the Congress feels the party could have done better had it made a pact with Kirori Lal Meena, who fielded candidates from five seats, thus making it difficult for the party in eastern Rajasthan where it had a real chance.