BJP offensive in Rajasthan has Cong on backfoot

In quick succession, the BJP has released booklets which ‘‘expose the ineffectiveness of the Congress government’’. After an animated chargesheet, they have released a black paper against the Ashok Gehlot government and also an economic report card highlighting the financial crisis.

BJP’s hoardings across Jaipur are full of wry humour about roads being washed away by the monsoons this year or why Gehlot is number one in everything that has gone wrong in the state.

Defending her party, Girija Vyas has termed the allegations as ‘‘baseless’’. Her argument: ‘‘All power reforms have been done in accordance with instructions from the Centre and Rajasthan implemented them first, emerging as the number one state. During BJP rule, not even one megawatt of power was produced.’’

Not giving the Congress a breather, the next allegation was launched by BJP national president Venkaiah Naidu on Tuesday. He encouraged workers in Jaipur to take an aggressive stand against the Congress. Accordingly, round two of BJP’s assault on Congress focussed on crop insurance, halting development and the increasing debt burden on the state.

BJP general secretary Pramod Mahajan kept up the offensive by stating the Gehlot government was totally ‘‘useless’’. ‘‘They are so ineffective that they are not even able to buy bajra produced by their own farmers,’’ Mahajan said. ‘‘And even after the Centre decided to step in, the state has not done its bit.’’ Vyas’s response to all this was vague. ‘‘The people of Rajasthan are not unhappy with Congress rule. They have no complaints,’’ she said, disappointing even her own party workers.