JAIPUR, SEPT 27: Rama Pilot - widow of Congress leader Rajesh Pilot - is engaged in a grim battle to hold on to the Dausa Lok Sabha seat, which her husband repeatedly won and nurtured carefully.Those who thought that she would romp home riding the crest of a sympathy wave had obviously not reckoned for a neck-and-neck fight which she has at hand, pitted against Rohitashv Kumar Sharma of the BJP, who not only defeated her in the 1993 Assembly elections, but also gave Pilot a stiff challenge in the last Lok Sabha polls, losing by a relatively low margin of 6,899 votes.Conscious of a wide-spread appreciation of Pilot's efforts to develop theconstituency, she is professing to ``continue the unfinished task'' of herhusband. Her son and daughter are also canvassing alongside.The BJP, on the other hand, has tried to generate a sympathy of sorts for Sharma, asking people to try him too, underlining that he has lost twice fromDausa.Ritualistic references apart, neither Rama nor Rohitashv is seeking votesin the name of Atal Behari Vajapyee or Sonia Gandhi. On the other hand,the Congress is seeking a vote against the ``misdeeds of the VajpayeeGovernment'', while the BJP is focussing popular attention on ``anti-people''decisions of Ashok Gehlot-led Congress government in the state.The Congress holds six of the eight Asembly segments - Bairath, JamwaRamgarh, Amer, Bandikui, Sikrai and Lalsot. The BJP holds Kotputli while an Independent is the MLA from Dausa.Rama Pilot has to contend with the fact that she is almost friendless inthe state Congress. Three MLAs from the area - Kamla (Bairath), Shailendra Joshi (Bandikui) and Prasadi Lal Meena (Lalsot) - had initially opposed hercandidature from the constituency. Though they are all - on the face of it -now campaigning for her, one does not know if they will actuallysupport her. Kamla and Joshi were earlier opposed by Pilot and they see noreason to give a foothold to Rama now.Another important leader from the area, Nawal Kihsore Sharma, a former MP from Dausa, was always at loggerheads with Pilot. Since Sharma grudged the fact that Pilot had ousted him from his home constituency, it seems rather logical that he would now try to retrieve his seat.The influential Gujjar community has rallied round Rama, but this can putoff the people belonging to the two other equally important communities, theBrahmins and Meenas, leading to a counter-consolidation of votes. The 75,000 Jats, who were once the most ardent of Congress supporters, have beenalienated from the Congress ever since the OBC status issue came to thefore. The BSP has put up former Haryana MLA Raghu Yadav, who isexpected to cut in to the Congress votes.Both Gehlot and Bhairon Singh Shekhawat have campaigned intensively in theconstituency. Rama's prospects hinge on the sympathy factor and herability to convert it into votes, though caste, government functioning andinternal sabotage - everything would influence the outcome. Irrespectiveof the ultimate result, Rama Pilot has a formidable task in front of her toreclaim the ``legacy of Pilot''.
