Congress reviews candidates, weighs alliances for bypolls

Jaipur: Former chief minister Ashok Gehlot, former deputy CM Sachin Pilot, Congress state president Govind Singh Dotasra and leader of opposition Tikaram Jully met separately with the All India Congress Committee (AICC) in-charge of the state, Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa on Friday.

They discussed the names of probable candidates and alliances for the Rajasthan bypolls.

Though bypolls to fill seven vacant assembly seats in Rajasthan have been announced, Congress has still not decided on an alliance with the Rashtriya Loktantrik Party (RLP) and Bharat Adivasi Party (BAP). RLP chief Hanuman Beniwal has publicly demanded two seats – Khinvsar and Deoli-Uniara – from Congress, and BAP is planning to contest from three others – Chorasi, Salumber, and Dausa.

During the meeting, the state Congress leaders argued in favour of contesting all the seven seats. However, Jully said the party has left the decision on alliances to the high command. "Our party will announce the candidates in 3-4 days," he said.

BAP MP Rajkumar Roat said, "We are planning to contest from three seats. We will contest from Chorasi and Salumber for sure. The third seat will be decided in our meeting of the central leadership tomorrow (Saturday). We will also discuss our alliance strategy."

Gehlot, on the other hand, said it was up to the party high command to decide on alliances.

"It is not decided at the state level," he said. Gehlot also said he recently discussed this with Dotasra.

According to sources, there is no consensus among leaders on alliances. Some leaders support the idea of an alliance, while others prefer contesting alone.

In the Lok Sabha elections, Congress allied with RLP for the Nagaur seat and left the Sikar seat for CPI-M's Amra Ram.