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The Congress also failed to deal with the problems created by its rebel leaders, which became evident in the Deoli-Uniara constituency, where rebel Naresh Meena, who made headlines for slapping a government official on polling day, finished second . BJP’s Rajendra Gurjar won the seat, but the official Congress candidate KC Meena finished third, getting less than half the nearly 60,000 votes that Naresh Meena received, raising serious questions over the Congress’ selection process.
The only respite for the Congress came from Dausa where the party’s candidate Deen Dayal Bairwa won, defeating minister Kirori Lal Meena’s brother and BJP’s Jagmohan Meena. Dausa has been a Congress stronghold since the time of Rajesh Pilot in the 1980s. The Dausa election was seen by many as a battle between BJP cabinet minister Kirori and former deputy CM Sachin Pilot, who still wields significant influence in the region. Despite a partial recount, the BJP lost in Dausa by 2,300 votes.
On the contrary, given the by-election defeat, the Congress party needs to face its leadership dilemmas. After the success of Lok Sabha, the share of State President Govind Dotasara has reached the seventh sky. A win on four Congress-held seats would have boosted Dotasara’s position, but defeat on key seats now raises questions about his leadership.
The Dausa win is an advantage for Sachin Pilot, even if Dotasara has faltered badly. It is not clear how the Congress high command will view the poor performance in the bypolls. But with the Panchayat and urban local body elections in Rajasthan, time is fast running out for the Congress.
Overall, the Congress failed to strike a balance between party priorities and keeping its Indian faction united in Rajasthan. The decision to contest all seven seats, ignoring differences among its allies and within the Congress, has clearly proved costly. Only time will tell how long it will take for the party to recover from this setback and become an effective opposition in Rajasthan.
(The author is a seasoned journalist and expert on Rajasthan politics. Apart from working as Resident Editor at NDTV, he has been Professor of Journalism at Rajasthan University, Jaipur. He tweets at @rajanmahan. This is an opinion article And the views expressed are the author’s own. The Quint Neither endorses nor is responsible for them.)
