Rajasthan
Nagaur: Cong has no future in Nagaur or Khinvsar: Ex-MP Jyoti Mirdha | Jaipur News
After switching sides from Congress to BJP, Jyoti Mirdha has started campaigning in Nagaur assembly constituency, which is dominated by the Jats. Mirdha, who was the Congress MP from Nagaur (2009-14), told TOI that she is confident of victory as she has done the homework of connecting with the people and understands their issues. Excerpts:
Congress says you stayed inactive in the party for the past four years, but you say you felt suffocated there.What was the reason behind this distance?
I was actively involved till the by-poll for Khinvsar in 2019, in which Harendra Mirdha was the Congress candidate. I was the one who managed all the operations in that election. We came very close to victory there, and that was due to my sincere efforts. But in 2020, when Congress was in a crisis, Hanuman Beniwal (RLP MP of Nagaur) extended support to the party, and Congress started supporting him, and all work of the party here started being done as per his wishes. I stayed in constant touch with senior leaders (of Congress) seeking help for our people, but it never came through. So I stopped attending meetings and remained unavailable as a mark of protest. If the CM himself is hand in glove with RLP, what future can Congress have in places like Khinvsar or Nagaur?
Hanuman Beniwal’s RLP seems to have got his hand on the people’s pulse in this region. How do you plan to contest in this backdrop?
When Beniwal was a BJP MLA, there was a Congress government in the state. He started using foul language for ex-CM Vasundhara Raje, and that is why the CM (Ashok Gehlot) was supporting him even then. When he contested for Nagaur Lok Sabha seat (in 2019), he partnered with BJP and became the joint candidate for NDA. He gave a statement at the time, saying that he had to counter an old rivalry with one of the political families (Mirdhas) and because he did not have enough votes, he had to partner with BJP for extra votes. So he understands what the problem is, and the moment he thought he was becoming ineffective, he jumped ship. Beniwal has been playing this game of switching sides and trying to partner with the most powerful. The way he runs his party is more like a gang, which people are realising now. He stands exposed.
How do you plan to connect with the locals and fill the gaps as you do not live here?
I was the only MP who visited all the panchayats, that too more than once, which the local people will corroborate. I went to the villages, understood the people’s issues and allocated budgets prioritising the development work needed in various areas. As an MP, I was very active both on the ground and in parliament. I raised issues from the region and got those addressed, too.
Contesting state elections involves more micro-level work compared that in parliamentary polls. What are the
differences in poll issues?
Earlier, as a Congress candidate for a Lok Sabha constituency, I found most of our issues related to the rural areas. Now, when I am in BJP and contesting from an assembly constituency that is partly urban, the demands of the people are also different. People here are looking for a strong leader who can get their local issues resolved and maintain a connection with the central leadership. Issues like railway over bridges, which have been stuck for more than seven years now, need to be resolved. The earlier MP was from a coalition, and now he has parted ways. So there is nobody to pursue the pending work.
Congress says you stayed inactive in the party for the past four years, but you say you felt suffocated there.What was the reason behind this distance?
I was actively involved till the by-poll for Khinvsar in 2019, in which Harendra Mirdha was the Congress candidate. I was the one who managed all the operations in that election. We came very close to victory there, and that was due to my sincere efforts. But in 2020, when Congress was in a crisis, Hanuman Beniwal (RLP MP of Nagaur) extended support to the party, and Congress started supporting him, and all work of the party here started being done as per his wishes. I stayed in constant touch with senior leaders (of Congress) seeking help for our people, but it never came through. So I stopped attending meetings and remained unavailable as a mark of protest. If the CM himself is hand in glove with RLP, what future can Congress have in places like Khinvsar or Nagaur?
Hanuman Beniwal’s RLP seems to have got his hand on the people’s pulse in this region. How do you plan to contest in this backdrop?
When Beniwal was a BJP MLA, there was a Congress government in the state. He started using foul language for ex-CM Vasundhara Raje, and that is why the CM (Ashok Gehlot) was supporting him even then. When he contested for Nagaur Lok Sabha seat (in 2019), he partnered with BJP and became the joint candidate for NDA. He gave a statement at the time, saying that he had to counter an old rivalry with one of the political families (Mirdhas) and because he did not have enough votes, he had to partner with BJP for extra votes. So he understands what the problem is, and the moment he thought he was becoming ineffective, he jumped ship. Beniwal has been playing this game of switching sides and trying to partner with the most powerful. The way he runs his party is more like a gang, which people are realising now. He stands exposed.
How do you plan to connect with the locals and fill the gaps as you do not live here?
I was the only MP who visited all the panchayats, that too more than once, which the local people will corroborate. I went to the villages, understood the people’s issues and allocated budgets prioritising the development work needed in various areas. As an MP, I was very active both on the ground and in parliament. I raised issues from the region and got those addressed, too.
Contesting state elections involves more micro-level work compared that in parliamentary polls. What are the
differences in poll issues?
Earlier, as a Congress candidate for a Lok Sabha constituency, I found most of our issues related to the rural areas. Now, when I am in BJP and contesting from an assembly constituency that is partly urban, the demands of the people are also different. People here are looking for a strong leader who can get their local issues resolved and maintain a connection with the central leadership. Issues like railway over bridges, which have been stuck for more than seven years now, need to be resolved. The earlier MP was from a coalition, and now he has parted ways. So there is nobody to pursue the pending work.
