Rajasthan polls: Congress fields seniors to pacify rebels

As Thursday is the last day for the withdrawal of nominations for the Rajasthan Assembly elections, Congress is making all-out efforts to pacify its rebel leaders.

Reportedly, as many as 50 Congress leaders have turned rebels. Many of these have either resigned from the party or have filed nomination as Independent candidate.

To deal with the situation, Congress has divided the state into seven zones and entrusted national and regional leaders with the responsibility of looking after these zones.

Congress leader Kuldeep Bishnoi and Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee president and Lok Sabha MP Sunil Jakhar have been given the responsibility of Bikaner while Rajiv Shukla along with Sanjay Singh and Madhusudan Mistry will look after Udaipur.

The other leaders who have been entrusted with the responsibility of different zones are-- Imran Kidwai and Akhilesh Singh for Ajmer, Haribhau Rathod and Vilas Muttemwar for Jodhpur, Akhilesh Singh and Parvez Hashmi for Kota, Bhupinder Hooda and Rajya Sabha MP Chhaya Verma for Bharatpur.

Apart from these, senior Congress leader and Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad along with Mukul Wasnik are camping in the state capital, reportedly to placate the rebels.

On November 17, the Congress party had expelled Spardha Chaudhary from the party for six years, for indulging in anti-party activities. Chaudhary's supporters had protested outside party president Rahul Gandhi's residence in Delhi as she was allegedly denied a ticket to contest for the forthcoming assembly elections from Rajasthan's Phulera. Chaudhary had accused Rajasthan Congress chief Sachin Pilot of sidelining her and accepting money in the ticket distribution.

On the same day, Congress MLA Ramesh Meena, who was anguished after being denied a ticket in the upcoming elections, also said that the party gave tickets to the corrupt leaders.

The 200-Rajasthan Assembly will go to polls on December 7 and the counting of votes will take place on December 11. The Congress party has fielded candidates for 195 seats and is contesting polls with alliance partners on 5 seats.