Prahlad Gunjal (L); Om Birla.
Credit: X/@PrahladGunjal; PTI
Jaipur: Congress today released its fifth list on the day of Holi, giving Kota’s ticket to Prahlad Gunjal, who recently crossed over from BJP. Gunjal is likely to give a tough fight to Lok Sabha Speaker and Kota resident Om Birla.
Congress released the names of Ramchandra Choudhury for Ajmer, Damodar Gujjar for Bhilwara, Sudharshan Singh for Rajsamand. All of them are fresh faces. With today’s list, Congress has now released the names of 22 seats leaving two seats for alliance partners — namely, the Sikar constituency for CPI(M) and Nagaur for Jat leader Hanuman Beniwal of Rashtriya Loktantrik Party (RLP).
No name has been announced for only one seat — that of Banswara-Dungarpur. Talks are supposedly on with Bharatiya Tribal Party with which Congress may decide to ally with.
Congress’s most influential leader, Mahendrajeet Singh Malviya, had crossed over to BJP recently and has been made one of their candidates from the state.
In Kota, Gunjal, who is a law graduate, and a two-time MLA, recently left BJP and joined Congress on an assurance of a ticket from Kota. In 2003, Gunjal won from Ramganjmandi and in 2013 from Kota (North).
He left BJP twice after he criticised Vasundhara Raje for mishandling the Gujjar agitation. Later he joined BJP and became a staunch supporter of Raje. A firebrand politician with a mass connect, he never saw eye to eye with Om Birla when he was in BJP. Now in the opposite camp, he is likely to prove a difficult nut to crack for Birla.
Two time MP from Kota, Om Birla has a strong grip on his constituency and has been working relentlessly for his constituency. He has also been a MLA three times. He is said to be close to BJP’s top leader Amit Shah.
In Ajmer, from where Sachin Pilot had won in 2009 and became the youngest MP in India, Congress this time has fielded 79-year-old Ramchandra Choudhury, who holds a masters degree.
Incidentally Choudhury who fought Assembly elections thrice on Congress ticket and once as an Independent, has lost all his electoral battles. He, however, has remained the director of Ajmer Cooperative Dairy for over 30 years and has been nominated as its head for the sixth straight time. He has been active in the Congress for years and has a strong hold on politics, especially in the cooperative sector. He would be fighting against BJP’s Bhagirath Choudhary, the current MP from Ajmer and state head of BJP Kisan Morcha. A Jat, he has a strong background in organisational matters too.
From Rajsamand, Sudharshan Singh Rawat, 50, is son of Laxman Singh Rawat, who was close to Sachin's father Rajesh Pilot and was also a fighter pilot in the Indian Air Force. Rawat has been a MLA from Bhim constituency once.
He has been active in the area for long and he would be contesting against Udaipur royal family’s Mahima Vishwaraj Singh, who is the wife of Nathdwara MLA Vishwaraj Singh. Mahima had worked hard to get her husband elected and is a seasoned player in the politics of the region.
Rajsamand is a Rajput-dominated constituency, from where Rajasthan’s deputy chief minister Diya Kumari was the MP.
From Bhilwara, Congress has pinned hope on Damodar Gujjar, 60, who has been in the police services. He heads the Dev Education Society and runs a number of colleges and schools in Jaipur. He has been a member of the Devnarayan Board in Ashok Gehlot’s government and is supposed to be close to the former CM. He has been active in the Congress for a long while.