With Raj Cong and BJP projecting no CM face, party workers left confused

By Archana Sharma
Jaipur, July 9 (IANS) The Congress after its recent Delhi meeting has announced that the party will be going for the Rajasthan assembly polls without any chief ministerial face.

The announcement comes as a shocker as the present CM Ashok Gehlot has been working hard to ensure the return of the party while the rival camp headed by Sachin Pilot was expecting that their leader will be announced as the CM face.

While the two camps have been silenced by a statement of the party high command, many leaders claim it to be a victory of the Pilot camp as it says that indirectly, it is a message for Gehlot to stay silent as of now.

A party leader on condition of anonymity said, “If you are in government, the party leader trusts you and your leadership. When the party leadership is so confident about you, why is your face not being made the CM face in the next election. It means the party is doubtful about your performance, he added.

Veteran BJP leader Laxmikant Bharadwaj said, “The Congress has announced to go faceless during this election to fool the people. Last time, they made Pilot the face to take the votes of Gujjars, this time, they have announced to go faceless again to confuse the voters and to give the message that Pilot can be the CM and for others that Gehlot can also be the CM.

"However, elections this time will be contested on issues like poor law and order, crime against women, unemployment, etc. The people know the reality and the Congress wants to hide the facts and hence they are going faceless.”

Meanwhile, the opposition BJP has already announced that the party will go to the polls without a CM face and will contest on the face of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his schemes.

In fact, both the parties are sharing many similarities in the desert state.

Right from the formation of its government in Rajasthan in 2018, the Congress has been garnering attention for its factionalism. Similar is the state of the BJP in Rajasthan where the party is busy tackling  factionalism.

While the feud is limited to the Gehlot-Pilot camp in the Congress, it is divided in different camps in the BJP as there is a long list of those who want to be the CM. So the party is shying away from naming a CM face, said party sources.

Meanwhile, the two parties' strategy of going faceless has left the party workers confused. While the Congress leaders are confused which camp they should go to, the grassroots workers are all the more confused as prominent positions in district PCC offices are lying vacant.

Similar is the plight of the BJP where the leaders are inclined to particular camps and hence the party is failing to project a united face. While the recent rally in Kota called by Vasundhara Raje loyalist Prahlad Gunjal failed to see veteran party leaders, the same was the case at the BJP core committee meeting when Raje was absent while other senior leaders marked their presence.