Rajasthan Elections 2023: Congress, BJP spar over CM face, party workers in a quandary

Jaipur: The Congress, after its recent Delhi meeting, has announced that the party will contest the Rajasthan assembly elections without a chief ministerial face. The announcement comes as a surprise as current CM Ashok Gehlot has been working hard to ensure the party’s return, while the rival camp led by Sachin Pilot was expecting their leader to be announced as the CM face.

While both the camps have stopped speaking with a statement by the party high command, many leaders claim that this is a victory for the Pilot camp, as it is indirectly a message for Gehlot to keep quiet for the time being. A party leader said on condition of anonymity, “If you are in the government, party leaders trust you and your leadership. When the party leadership has so much faith in you then why is your face not being made the CM’s face in the next elections. “It means the party is apprehensive about your performance,” he said.

Senior BJP leader Laxmikant Bhardwaj said, “Congress has announced to be faceless in this election to fool people. Last time they made Pilot a face to get votes of Gujjars, this time again to confuse them.” He has declared to be faceless.” To give a message to the voters that Pilot can be the CM and to others that Gehlot can also be the CM.

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“However, this time the election will be fought on issues like bad law and order, crime against women, unemployment etc. People know the reality and Congress wants to hide the facts and hence they are becoming faceless.” Meanwhile, the opposition BJP has already announced that the party will go to the polls without a CM face and will fight on the face of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his schemes.

Indeed, there are many similarities between the two parties in the desert state. Ever since the formation of its government in Rajasthan in 2018, the Congress has been making headlines for its factionalism. Similar is the condition of BJP in Rajasthan where the party is trying to deal with factionalism. While the tussle in the Congress is confined to the Gehlot-Pilot camp, in the BJP it is divided into different camps as there is a long list of CM aspirants. Party sources said that is why the party is shying away from naming the CM face.

Meanwhile, the strategy of being faceless by both the parties has left the party workers confused. While Congress leaders are confused as to which camp they should join, grassroots workers are even more confused as key posts in district PCC offices are lying vacant. Similar is the plight of the BJP where the leaders are inclined towards particular camps and hence the party is failing to present a united face. While party stalwarts were absent at the recent rally called by Prahlad Gunjal, a Vasundhara Raje loyalist in Kota, similar was the case at the BJP Core Committee meeting with Raje absent while other senior leaders marked their presence.