Rajasthan election: CM Ashok Gehlot's close aide withdraws nomination, joins BJP

Rajasthan Assembly Elections: In a major setback for the Congress party ahead of the Rajasthan Assembly Elections, a senior leader and Jodhpur mayor Rameshwar Dadhich, who had filed his nomination for the upcoming state polls from the Soorsagar constituency as an independent candidate, withdrew his papers and joined the BJP on Thursday.

Notably, Dadhich, who is a close associate of Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok, has parted ways with the Congress after a 50-year-long association.

Vinod Sharma, the former Dausa district president of the Congress, on Thursday also joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Additionally, in Jaipur, former minister Rajpal Singh Shekhawat, who had submitted his nomination for the Jhotwara constituency against the BJP's Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore, decided to withdraw his candidacy after discussions with the party's high command.

The Congress leaders joined BJP in the presence of Union Minister and the party's Rajasthan election in-charge Pralhad Joshi, Union Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat and MP Rajendra Gehlot.

Here's what Dadhich says after joining BJP

He said that the reason for joining the BJP is PM Modi's desire to take India at the top in the world and to stop scams like the paper leak scam in Rajasthan.  "I have joined the BJP due to the decision-making capacity of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. I have been impressed with his work for long. If Modi was not the prime minister, the construction of the Ram temple (in Ayodhya in Uttar Pradesh) could not have happened," Dadhich said after joining the saffron party.

Here is BJP's reaction

Union Minister Shekhawat expressed that leaders from the Congress and other political parties are defecting to the BJP due to their dissatisfaction with the policies and unfulfilled promises of these parties. He emphasized that it is now time for the Congress government to exit from the state of Rajasthan.

"BJP, the world's biggest political family, continues to grow and prosper with the inclusion of powerful people. In the current elections, when people know that the Congress government is going out, several of their senior leaders continue to join the BJP," he added.

Other BJP rebels, including Chandrabhan Singh Akya from Chittorgarh, Yoonus Khan from Deedwana, Ravindra Bhati from Sheo, Banshidhar Bajiya from Khandela, Bhawani Singh Shekhawat from Kota's Ladpura, Kailash Meghwal from Shahpura in Bhilwara and Priyanka Choudhary from Barmer, have not withdrawn their nominations as independents, making the electoral contests on these seats triangular.

On the other hand, former Congress MLA from Badi Sadari Prakash Choudhary, Mahendra Barjod from Dungarpur's Chorasi, Rajkaran Choudhary from Sardarshahr and Brahamdev Kumawat from Masuda have not withdrawn from the poll race and have decided to contest as independents.

What happened in 2018 elections?

The deadline for withdrawing nominations ended on Thursday (November 9). The 200-member Rajasthan Assembly is scheduled for assembly elections on November 25, and the counting of votes will be on December 3.

In 2018, Congress won 100 seats in the 2018 Assembly polls. BJP followed at  73 seats while BSP garnered 6 seats. Rashtriya Loktantrik Party (RLP) gathered 3 seats with the Communist Party of India (Marxist) and Bhartiya Tribal Party (BTP) mustered 2 seats each. Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) managed to grab just one seat while there were 13 independent candidates in the 2018 Assembly Elections. 

(With agencies input)