Rajat Sharma, Chairman and Editor-in-Chief of India TV.
At present there is a close election contest between Congress and BJP in Rajasthan. Leaders of both the parties are playing on the front foot. BJP released its manifesto on Thursday and made many big promises. Fielded an army of big leaders. Many leaders like JP Nadda, Nitin Gadkari, Yogi Adityanath, Smriti Irani held election rallies. Rahul Gandhi took charge from the Congress side. Ashok Gehlot and Sachin Pilot were also there. Big leaders of Congress and BJP reached India TV’s election platform in Jaipur. Sachin Pilot spoke openly about his heart for the first time. He clearly said that he will not forget the way he was treated throughout his life, but it is his compulsion. There is no option, so we are moving together. The biggest promise made by BJP in its manifesto is to provide gas cylinders to poor families for Rs 450. For the safety of women, BJP has taken various measures like opening women police station in every district, creating anti Romeo squad, giving a savings bond of Rs 2 lakh on the birth of a girl child under ‘Lado Protsahan Yojana’, giving Rs 8 thousand to women under Matritva Vandana Yojana. Made promises. BJP has promised that if the government is formed in Rajasthan, then at least 2.5 lakh youth will be given government jobs in five years. Releasing the BJP manifesto, party president J. P. Nadda said that all the scams that took place during the Congress rule will be investigated and those who looted public money will be punished. Congress leaders described the resolution paper as a bundle of lies and a document of cheating the public. Gehlot’s minister Pratap Singh Khachariyawas said that if BJP really wants to make cylinders cheaper then it does not need to make a promise in the resolution letter. The Central Government should immediately issue orders, cylinders will become cheaper in the entire country.
Like Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh, in the BJP camp of Rajasthan too, after Narendra Modi, Yogi Adityanath is in most demand. Most of the BJP candidates want Yogi to visit their area at least once. On Thursday, Yogi held five rallies in Kota, Ajmer and Bundi districts, raised the issue of corruption in the Gehlot government, talked about crimes against women, accused Congress of playing with the faith of Hindus and appeasement. Yogi mentioned the murder of Kanhaiya Lal in the Bundi rally. Said, innocent Kanhaiya Lal’s throat was slit in public but Congress, which considers appeasement as its religion, far from punishing the murderers, lagged behind in giving compensation to Kanhaiya’s family. Yogi said that if Congress had not had the appeasement policy in Rajasthan, Kanhaiyalal would not have been murdered. Yogi reminded UP’s bulldozers in Ajmer. Said that today the mafia is fearless in Rajasthan, once upon a time in UP also the goon mafia used to roam with its chest wide but now Baba’s bulldozer is roaming in UP and the goon mafia has either gone to the top or is in jail. Bulldozers have calmed down the heat of the mafia. Yogi said that Rajasthan also needs bulldozers. Yogi mentioned the incidents of stone pelting on Hindu processions in Kota. Yogi said that Congress always played with the sentiments of Hindus, made fun of faith, when BJP people used to talk about Ram Temple, Congress leaders used to laugh, but today Congress has got the answer. A grand Ram temple is about to be built in Ayodhya and he has come to invite the people of Kota to come to Ayodhya.
JP Nadda directly raised questions on Ashok Gehlot by name. Said that corruption took place in the Rajasthan government right under the nose of the Chief Minister, public money was looted, one kilo of gold was found in the secretariat, crores of rupees in cash were found. Union Road Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari held two rallies in Jaipur. Gadkari explained the fundamental difference between BJP and Congress, said that he used to paste posters in BJP and later became the party president, now he is a minister. But to become party president in Congress, it is necessary to be born in a family. Gadkari enumerated the works of Modi government, said, a network of highways and expressways has been laid, soon such an expressway will be built between Jaipur and Delhi that the people of Jaipur will be able to go to Delhi to eat ice cream. Since Gadkari called Congress a mother-son party, Ashok Gehlot responded to it. Gehlot said that BJP has nothing to say, hence it targets the Gandhi family, whereas the Gandhi family has no greed for power, no one from this family has become Prime Minister in the last 30 years. While Gehlot defended the Gandhi-Nehru family, Rahul Gandhi himself took the lead on behalf of the Congress in the rallies.
Rahul held rallies in Churu, Hanumangarh and Sriganganagar on Thursday. Rahul did not talk much about the politics of Rajasthan. He talked about Adani, demonetization, Corona. Said that when people were dying, Modi was getting thali and clapping, but the Gehlot government was busy saving people. In the Hanumangarh rally, Rahul said that Modi had promised to provide employment to two crore people every year in 2014, till now not even two lakh people have got employment. Smriti Irani replied to Rahul Gandhi. Irani said that no one takes Rahul Gandhi seriously, when Rahul could not develop Amethi in twenty years, then how will the people of Rajasthan trust the words of such a leader? Irani also took a dig at Priyanka Gandhi. Said, why don’t those who give the slogan of ‘I am a girl, I can fight’ come to Rajasthan? Why don’t they see the atrocities being committed on women in Rajasthan? The big challenge facing Congress in Rajasthan is the infighting among the leaders and the attitude of the rebels. On Thursday, both Ashok Gehlot and Sachin Pilot were present to welcome Rahul Gandhi and participate in his rallies. Rahul said, everything is fine in the party, everyone is together, Congress is fighting the elections together and will win.
In India TV’s election forum, Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge said that as President, he takes decisions himself, the Gandhi family does not run them remotely, however, he definitely takes advice from Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi, as a former Congress President. They get the benefit of their experiences, but decisions are not imposed on them. Kharge said that those who call him a remote controlled president should look inside themselves, the truth is that the remote of JP Nadda is in the hands of Modi and all the decisions of the party are taken by Modi. Sachin Pilot also came to the election stage. The pilot expressed his feelings very candidly. For the first time he clearly said that the pain of what happened to him is in his heart and will remain so for the rest of his life. Pilot said that he has no personal feud with anyone, it was only a fight of principles, there was disagreement on some issues but a few months ago Rahul Gandhi and Mallikarjun Kharge told him that he should forget what happened, move ahead and he He accepted the party leadership’s point but Pilot also said that whatever Ashok Gehlot said about him, whatever came out of his mouth, cannot be taken back.
Pilot is right that he never broke the limits of words, always raised his point strongly. He raised the issue of paper leak, organized a movement, took out a yatra against his own government, due to which Gehlot had to come on the backfoot, but Gehlot did something clever. The allegation was leveled on Pilot that he was doing all this just for the sake of the Chief Minister’s chair. The same thing was explained to Rahul Gandhi also. The reality was that Pilot’s five years of hard work was behind Congress’s victory in the last elections. Priyanka Gandhi had promised to make him the Chief Minister but after the victory, Rahul handed over the chair to Gehlot. Then the pilot was asked to wait for a few days, but that promise was also not fulfilled. That’s why Pilot was angry, he could have left the party, but this time Rahul Gandhi and Kharge have promised to make him the Chief Minister, so Pilot is left with a bitter sip. The thing to note is that the pilots have not forgotten those things yet and are saying this openly. However, Pilot is working very hard honestly in the elections. They hope that they will get the fruits of their hard work. The party will make him the Chief Minister. (Rajat Sharma)
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