Rajasthan Congress chief Dotasra rules out alliance with any party for assembly by-polls

Talking after a meeting of the Congress Coordination Committee, Dotasra said the state unit has made panels of probable candidates for the seven seats and the final announcement will be made by the party's high command in Delhi.

Jaipur: Rajasthan Congress president Govind Singh Dotasra on Monday ruled out the possibility of an alliance with any regional party for the upcoming by-polls to seven assembly seats.

Talking to reporters after a meeting of the Congress Coordination Committee, Dotasra said the state unit has made panels of probable candidates for the seven seats and the final announcement will be made by the party's high command in Delhi.

In the Lok Sabha election held this year, the Congress entered into an alliance with the Rashtriya Loktantrik Party (RLP) for the Nagaur seat and with the CPI(M) for the Sikar seat.

RLP convener Hanuman Beniwal, who had won the Khinvsar assembly seat in Nagaur district in last year's assembly election, emerged victorious from the Nagaur parliamentary constituency this year. As a result, the Khinsvar assembly seat fell vacant.

There was speculation about a Congress-RLP alliance for the by-poll to the Khinvsar seat, but Dotasra said the Congress' state unit was not looking for a tie-up.

He said the Congress' Rajasthan in-charge Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa would take the panels for all seven seats to Delhi and candidates would be declared after a discussion with the high command.

Dungarpur's Chorasi assembly seat fell vacant after Bharat Adivasi Party (BAP) MLA Rajkumar Roat won the Lok Sabha election from the Banswara-Dungarpur district.

The Congress did not announce any alliance with the BAP in the general election but asked its candidate to withdraw their nominations from the Banswara-Dungarpur constituency. The move was aimed at supporting the BAP.

"There are no talks of alliance with any party in the assembly by-polls in Rajasthan. We have prepared panels for all seven seats in the meeting today," Dotasra said.

He also exuded confidence that the party would win all seven assembly seats.

Leader of Opposition in the Assembly Tikaram Jully, former chief minister Ashok Gehlot, former assembly Speaker CP Joshi and other party leaders attended the meeting chaired by Randhawa.

Voting on seven assembly seats -- Jhunjhunu, Dausa, Deoli-Uniara, Khinvsar, Chorasi, Salumbar and Ramgarh -- will be held on November 13 and the results will be declared on November 23.

Bypolls on two seats are being held due to the death of the MLAs -- Congress's Zubair Khan from Ramgarh and BJP's Amritlal Meena from Salumbar.

In the other five constituencies, the MLAs were elected as MPs, necessitating the by-polls.

Congress MLAs Brijendra Ola (Jhunjhunu), Harish Chandra Meena (Deoli-Uniara) and Murari Lal Meena (Dasau) were elected as MPs in the Lok Sabha election. The other two are Beniwal and Roat.

Four of the seven seats where bypolls will be held were with the Congress, while the BJP, BAP and the RLP held one each.

The BJP has declared candidates for all seats except Chorasi.

The BAP has already declared its candidate for the Chorasi seat.

Currently, the 200-seat state assembly has 114 MLAs of the BJP, 65 of the Congress, three of the BAP, two of the BSP, one of the Rashtriya Lok Dal and eight Independents.