By Anish Singh
Jaipur, Nov 24 (UNI) Accusing the BJP Governments at the Centre and at in Rajasthan of betraying the public, the Congress on Saturday said that an overwhelming sentiment in the state was to defeat the BJP.
Talking to UNI, Congress Spokesperson Pawan Khera said, "In this election, issues matter and not the individuals. In my 30-35 years of political career, I'm witnessing for the first time that the voters are fighting unitedly to defeat the BJP. And when voters come forward then everything else take the backseat. They only come to dethrone or set up a better alternative."
Asked about the issues on which the grand-old party seeking votes in public, the senior Congress leader said, "There are many issues on which we are going in public. In the last five years, the Vasundhara Raje government and Centre have ditched the people. They have reduced the budget for mid day meal, agriculture development project and education. In the name of merger they have shut down 17,000 schools.'
After several ticket aspirants failed get Congress ticket , many of them filed their nomination independently.
However, the top leadership is trying to pacify them.
On rebels in the party, Khera said, "In our party there is no culture of 'Shahgiri'. We talk to our dissenters and we are sure that the party will be able to convince them to campaign for the Congress candidates."
The term "Shahgiri" was a reference to BJP President Amit Shah's attitude or approach.
On the Congress not declaring its Chief Ministerial candidate, the Congress spokesperson said,"Till ticket distribution, everything is different. But once the process of ticket allocation is over, entire leadership works a family in our party."
The BJP has declared incumbent chief minister Vasundhara Raje as its face for assembly polls -- which is scheduled to take place on December 7.
When pointed out that the BJP is raking up the issue of chief ministerial face, Mr Khera said, "Had the BJP declared their chief ministerial candidate during Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand and Haryana assembly elections? Had we called them to declare their candidates then? We didn't. Its party's election strategy."
In the 200-member Rajasthan assembly house, the Congress party is contesting on 195 seats and has given five seats to its allies that include two seats each to Sharad Yadav's Loktantrik Janta Dal and Ajit Singh's Rashtriye Lok Dal and one seat to Sharad Pawar's Nationalist Congress Party (NCP).
UNI ASH AR 2055