Congress hopes to make gains as BJP Rajasthan govt scraps districts, draws protests

The Congress has immediately got down to work with its state chief Govind Singh Dotasra and Leader of the Opposition in the Assembly Tika Ram Jully taking the lead on the issue.

The timing of the Sharma government’s decision, however, may help contain the BJP’s losses. With the courts on vacation and four more years to go before the elections, the BJP government believes it has ample time to address resentment arising out of the decision.

Announcing the government order scrapping the districts and the divisions Saturday, Rajasthan Law Minister Jogaram Patel said, “We don’t see it (the decision) politically, we keep the public and nation’s interests first, we see Rajasthan’s interests.”

Patel also pointed out that the Congress lost in most of the seats in the newly-created districts. Of the 51 Assembly seats which fall here, the BJP had won 29, nearly doubling its tally from 15 in 2018. On the other hand, the Congress’s tally here dipped from 26 in 2018 to 20. Independents won two seats.

In the three divisions which have been scrapped, Sikar is seen to be a Congress stronghold, with its state chief Dotasra hailing from here. Banswara is located in the tribal heartland, where the BJP is not seen to be as influential and the Bharat Adivasi Party has been steadily gaining ground. In Pali, there was no major demand to make it a division and Gehlot himself is quoted as acknowledging this. Officials, however, pointed out that Jodhpur (under which Pali will fall once again) was far away from places like Sirohi, and that making Pali a division cut travel time for residents by about an hour.

Among the nine scrapped districts, excluding seats in Jodhpur and Jaipur Rural, three constituencies each are held by the BJP and Congress while Sanchore was won by an Independent. In the eight new districts which have been retained, almost all the Assembly constituencies at their centre – Balotra (Pachpadra Assembly), Beawar, Deeg, Khairthal-Tijara, Phalodi, Salumber and Kotputli-Behror – are held by the BJP while Yoonus Khan, a BJP rebel, is the Independent MLA from Deedwana, which falls under Deedwana-Kuchaman district.

Also retained is CM Sharma’s native district of Deeg, and Mahant Balaknath’s Tijara, though Deputy CM Prem Chand Bairwa’s Dudu has been scrapped.

The scrapping of Dudu could be bad optics for the BJP as Bairwa hails from the Dalit community and could be projected by the Opposition as proof that even the seemingly powerful leaders in the government are actually powerless. Bairwa, who is a regular feature in post-Cabinet meeting press conferences, was conspicuous by his absence on Saturday, only adding more fuel to the fire.

Gehlot slammed the Sharma government, asking why Deeg was retained as a district even though Bharatpur (its former district headquarters) is only 38 km away, while both Sanchore and Anupgarh were scrapped, despite Sanchore-Jalore and Anugarh-Ganganagar being 135 km and 125 km apart, respectively.

As for other districts, the demand for a district in Phalodi and Pachpadra was long-pending, with then Pachpadra MLA Madan Prajapat of the Congress vowing in 2022 to renounce footwear till this came about.

Slamming the BJP decision as “politically motivated and anti-people”, Gehlot cited the example of Madhya Pradesh, saying it has 55 districts despite being geographically smaller than Rajasthan. The Congress leader said that the reach of the administration, delivery of facilities and schemes, quick redressal of problems, and maintenance of law and order are all more efficient in districts which have smaller areas.

The former CM said the government’s “guilty conscience” was making it “push out statements from retired bureaucrats” to justify its decision.