Raje, Gehlot & Jaswant scions slog it out for votes

Aditi Tandon

Tribune News Service

Jodhpur, April 22

The summer heat is peaking in Rajasthan, so is campaigning. Poll temperatures are particularly high in Jodhpur, Jhalawar-Baran and Barmer where political legacies of three stalwarts are at test.

The Jodhpur election has become a prestige battle for five-time Congress MP and incumbent Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot, whose son Vaibhav, 39, is eyeing a Lok Sabha debut from here. Not much of a people’s person and visibly restrained, he is depending full time on his father to pull this one off.

Adding to his woes is PM Narendra Modi in Jodhpur, who addressed his first poll rally this evening and attacked the culture of “political dynasties.” Modi, in Rajasthan since yesterday, addressed election gatherings in Chittorgarh and Udaipur before shifting to Jodhpur today.

In another dynastic bastion of Jhalawar, former Rajasthan CM Vasundhara Raje’s son Dushyant is in the race for the fourth time. Barmer in western Rajasthan is also witnessing a high-stakes battle involving political inheritance of former NDA minister Jaswant Singh, whose son Manvendra Singh is the Congress candidate from the seat. This is the first time in decades that the Congress has banked on a Rajput to contest from Barmer where party’s own leader Harish Choudhry had defeated Manvendra, then in the BJP, in 2009. Manvendra has since changed sides and is harping on redemption of Rajput pride to avenge his father’s insult at BJP’s hands.

His campaign is mostly emotional and centres on the “insults” that the BJP heaped on its elders, including his now ailing father Jaswant Singh, who was denied nomination from Barmer in 2014.

With elections round the corner, Gehlot and Raje are stepping up their campaigns to see their sons through while in Barmer, Manvendra like a lone ranger is working hard to preserve his father’s legacy. Locals say by far Jhalawar appears to be the safest among dynastic seats.

The BJP hasn’t lost Jhalawar since 1989 and Dushyant has held it three times in a row now. 

He’s pitted against Congress’ Pramod Sharma. Many see it as a non-fight just like the 2018 Jhalrapatan Assembly poll contest between Manvendra and Vasundhara Raje. Raje won comfortably.

Barmer is witnessing a contest, says Sarvottam Pal Yadav, an old-time transporter who has watched the political landscape of Rajasthan for years. “There’s a tough fight in Barmer. Manvendra is flagging his father’s legacy to win over hearts. Let’s see if people give him a chance. The BJP should have treated Jaswant Singh well,” he remarks.

While Barmer and Jhalawar are scripting their own stories, an epic battle is underway in Jodhpur where Ashok Gehlot is fighting hard to facilitate son Vaibhav’s political debut. The PM’s presence here has raised the Jodhpur stakes for Gehlot manifold with the BJP again banking on sitting MP and MoS Gajendra Singh Shekhawat.

As stalwarts sweat it out in the sun, it remains to be seen whose sons rise on May 23 when the results are  out. Rajasthan’s 25 seats go to the polls on April 29 and May 6. Until then, it will be testing times for Rajasthan’s political dynasties.