Mud-slinging in open after survey predicts win

In the dock are half a dozen ministers of the Gehlot government, who are facing growing opposition amid demands that they should not be given a second chance. At a block-level meeting in Revdar, Social Welfare Minister Chogaram Bakoliya came in for some open criticism, with not a single hand going up in favour of the minister being given a second chance at power.

In Sumerpur, Forest Minister Bina Kak did not find favour with even the block president, who openly demanded that she be removed. In Sojat, Women and Child Development Minster Madho Singh Diwan faced stiff opposition from fellow Congressmen and, in Taleda, workers expressed their unhappiness with Parliament Secretary Mamta Sharma.

But the real complains are piling up against MLAs and the fight to get them out is getting uglier. About 200 people were injured at a Congress worker’s meet in Ajmer district on Sunday, as members of rival factions pelted stones at each other, forcing police to resort to a lathicharge.

As the party’s election observer for Rajasthan, Shamsher Singh Surjewala watched, supporters of Masuda MLA Haji Qayyum and Rural Congress president Ram Chandra Chaudhary fought a pitched battle.

Surjewala was addressing a 5,000-plus crowd when Chaudhary’s Jat supporters swung into action against protesting Gujjars. Chaudhary has filled up all vacancies in the Ajmer Dairy with his followers, they alleged. The police had to intervene, as a stone smashed the glass of Surjewala’s car and the crowd became violent.

AICC treasurer Motilal Vohra was witness to a similar fracas in Nokha, as MLA Revatram Panwar’s supporters tried to drown voices of protest against their leader.

The scene replayed itself in Beawer. Supporters of local MLA K.C. Chaudhary and of expelled municipal chairman Pramod Sankhala clashed late on Sunday evening, forcing Surjewala to cancel his Beawer visit. Sources say Gehlot has already prepared a list of MLAs whose public image have suffered, and they are likely to be the first people to lose out on election tickets. An internal survey has warned that the Congress is likely to lose at least 24 of the 154 seats it had won last time.