Rahul Gandhi set to enter Vasundhara Raje's den

Jaipur: Three days after the Election Commission of India (ECI) announced dates for assembly elections in five states and Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched a scathing attack on him while sounding poll bugle for his party in a rally in Ajmer, the Congress president Rahul Gandhi will arrive on two-day visit to Rajasthan — the state where Congress according to two opinion polls, is set to make a comeback.

The Congress president will hold a 200-km road show in Eastern Rajasthan on Tuesday.  The next day, he will address a rally in Bikaner.

However, it is the road show that would be keenly watched. Dholpur, from where Rahul Gandhi would embark on his road show, is home town of chief minister Vasundhara Raje. She is married into erstwhile princely state of Dholpur — one of the only two Jat kingdoms — in India. Another dominant caste is Gurjars — her MP son Dushyant Singh’s wife is a Gurjar.  

Besides, the BSP is also relatively strong in this area where it picked up one seat and came second on five in the last assembly elections. Three constituencies Baseri in Dholpur district and Bayana and Weir in Bharatpur district enroute to Mr. Gandhi’s road show are reserved for SC. Also, Jatav community, which is the core of Mayawati’s dalit vote bank, primarily resides in this area.

The Congress had won just two seats in 2013. It failed to win a single reserved seat in Dholpur, Bharatpur and Dausa that the road show would cover.

Dausa district where the road show would culminate is another problematic area for the Congress. It did not win a single seat in this district, which is bastion of Dr. Kirori Lal Meena, who earlier this year returned to BJP.

In this background, it appears to be a bold move. Perhaps, the Congress wants to send a strong message to not just its rival BJP but also Mayawati who earlier this week broke alliance talks with the Congress and decided to go solo in Rajasthan.

Its state president Sachin Pilot has strong connection to Bharatpur and Dausa. His father, late Rajesh Pilot, represented both the constituencies in Lok Sabha. Sachin himself won his first election from Dausa Lok Sabha constituency. All three districts have strong presence of Gurjars.

Besides, the Congress now hopes to cash in on resentment among Jats and Gurjars over reservation. Both have been seeking reservation.