In the season of filmstars, the Congress is looking for a few good retired bureaucrats to bail them out in the upcoming polls in Rajasthan.As they find the ground beneath their feet slipping in their Dalit and tribal turfs, the party is struggling to find suitable candidates to recapture this votebank in the state. Desperately seeking candidates, they are banking on a handful of government officials to help them regain lost ground. The latest they have roped in is State Human Rights Commission member Namonarayan Meena. The former IPS officer has accepted the challenge and resigned from the commission.The candidate-strapped party is looking to field retired officials in a few reserved seats in these belts, hoping to woo back the Dalit vote. In the reserved seats of Bayana, Tonk and Sawai Madhopur, the Congress has retired IPS and IAS officers fighting for them. While Namonarayan resigned on Tuesday, Rajasthan Public Service Commission chairman N.K. Bairwa quit on Monday. According to Congress sources, the names of both these candidates will be announced in the next list and they tendered their resignations only after the ‘‘high command’’ cleared their names. In their last list, the Congress had declared the name of retired IAS officer Mahender Singh from the reserved Bayana seat. The Sawai Madhopur seat is reserved for Scheduled Tribes and the Tonk seat for Scheduled Castes. At present, BJP minister Jas Kaur Meena is the MP from Sawai Madhopur who is likely to get a second chance. In Tonk, too, present BJP MP Kailash Meghwal is expected to fight again. To counter both these BJP MPs, the Congress has had to sweat it out to find suitable candidates, and Congressmen have described the situation as ‘‘worrisome’’. Despite a massive hunt, the party has not been able to come up with a single Dalit or tribal leader to field from the reserved seats. Former deputy chief minister Banwari Lal Bairwa is considered to be an influential leader in Tonk, but even his chances of winning the seat are being questioned by the party.
