Close contest in Raj as Congress regains lost ground

Congress is banking on populist schemes of the Ashok Gehlot government to beat the odds and romp home while opposition BJP expects that the state's lack of development and overall anti-incumbency mood will hand it over the reins of power.

If Gehlot draws applause in rallies as he speaks of these schemes and asks people to do "justice" to him, BJP chief ministerial candidate Vasundhara Raje touches a chord with the crowd by accusing the CM of "sleeping" after being elected and now distributing sops for votes.

A tour across vast expanses of the desert state reveals that the ruling party has managed to stem the reported slide in its fortunes, more in rural regions, on the back of its welfare measures, including pension for senior citizens, free health check-up and medicines for all.

"The only anti-incumbency we are fighting is against our government in Delhi. There is no anti-incumbency against us," several Congress leaders told PTI.

If satta bazaar, illegal but popular in parts of the state, is any indication, it offers no solace to the two big parties with both said to be locked in a neck-and-neck battle and not predicted to get a clear majority.

The betting market had declared BJP a favourite to get majority in the 200-seat assembly until a few weeks back, but is now predicting a dead heat with Congress regaining much of the lost ground in the run-up to the December 1 polls.

"My mother gets Rs 500 delivered at home every month. There is free health check up not only for her but even our animals. I can't ignore it," Kuldip Godara, who works in Jaipur and whose mother stays at their rural home in Jodhpur, says when asked of his political preference.