JAIPUR, February 12: One single largest factor that may come in Raghuvir Singh Kaushal's way to the Lok Sabha is the power portfolio he has been holding in the Shekhawat government.People talk of the worsening power situation in Rajasthan with Kaushal, who is contesting from Kotah constituency, doing nothing as the power minister. Even in his own village, Bhojakhedi, has erratic power supply.
Apart from being the power minister, Kaushal is the state BJP chief and the party is putting in its best to ensure his victory. However, the odds facing Kaushal are heavy as may be seen from the fact that over a lakh people attended Sonia's election meeting at Kotah recently. The large turnout has certainly given a boost to the Congress candidate, Ram Narayan Meena.Even in the 1996 election, the victory of the BJP candidate from Kotah, Dau Dayal Joshi, who died a few weeks ago, was dramatic. He won by a slender margin of a little over 600 votes.
There is no doubt that BJP has been losing its hold over theelectorate in Kotah for reasons which are obvious. The entire region has been neglected by the BJP government for some "internal political factors". Lalit Kishore Chaturvedi, who is the PWD minister in the state government, is known to be politically opposed to Shekhawat.
At one stage, Chaturvedi had no direct access to the chief minister and their differences had come out in the open. He was even pitted to take over from Shekhawat. However, some understanding between the two leaders has now developed and Chaturvedi is putting in his best to ensure the victory of Kaushal.
Kaushal does not talk about the BJP government's achievements in Rajasthan when he goes on electioneering. He talks about the need to have a stable government in Delhi so that the country can make rapid progress. He speaks loftily about Atal Behari Vajpayee who has proven to be a better prime minister than Nehru.
On the contrary, the Congress candidate, Ram Narayan Meena, talks about the glaring failures of the BJP government. "TheShekhawat government has done nothing for the state and has proved to be a drag on the economy," says he.Meena's rhetoric is cutting ice in the rural areas. The entire industrial belt in the Litah region has suffered a lot during the Shekhawat regime with no new investments having come by. The plight of J K Synthetics Ltd is well known and even the DCM units have suffered.
At one time during the late Sukhadia's time, Kotah was the main attraction of industrial houses and industries had come up there with the personal initiative taken by Mohanlal Sukhadia. But now Kotah has lost its position in Rajasthan following the closure of a large number of industrial units.In the sprawling constituency there are over two lakh voters belonging to the SC category in addition to one lakh Meenas. The poll outcome will largely depend on how the SCs vote. Meena is gearing all his energies to tap this vote bank and is upbeat that he would be able to trounce Kaushal in the coming poll.
The loss of Kotah will be a big blowto BJP from the political standpoint but going by the energies being put up by BJP to retain the seat, the contest will be quite interesting.
Copyright © 1998 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
