Rajasthan
Poll battle in Dausa district will be defined by prospects of ERCP, political complexities
Dausa district, home to the renowned Chand Baori stepwell, a stunning relic from medieval times located near Abhaneri, just 90 km from Jaipur, holds a unique place in the heart of Rajasthan. This stepwell, which has around 3,500 crisscrossing narrow stairs descending into the ground in a geometrical pattern, is a testament not only to the architectural and design expertise in medieval times but also engineering innovations aimed at conserving water in this arid region. Water has long remained a pivotal aspect of governance and politics in Rajasthan, and the upcoming state election is no exception.
Much of the recent political heat in this region has emerged from the ambitious Eastern Rajasthan Canal Project (ERCP), which promises supply of water for drinking, irrigation, and industrial use in 13 districts, including Dausa, by channelising water from the Chambal River and its tributaries.
Sensing the local mood stoked by Congress, BJP began early in the election year by holding rallies centred around development issues in Dausa. Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed a rally in the region, pledging to tackle the area’s water challenges. While inaugurating the Delhi-Dausa-Lalsot stretch of the Delhi-Mumbai Expressway on February 12, he said the central government was ready with a mega proposal to merge ERCP and the Parbati-Kalisindh-Chambal River Link to provide water for drinking and irrigation to the 13 eastern districts.
Congress, on the other hand, has been demanding that the central government accord national project status to ERCP. Eyeing the substantial voter base across the 13 districts, CM Ashok Gehlot announced a couple of months ago that the state government would complete ERCP with its “own resources” without waiting for the Centre’s aid.
Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, who addressed a public rally at Sikrai in the district on Friday, tried to woo voters and corner BJP by alleging that the PM failed to fulfil his promise on ERCP despite reminders from the Gehlot government. “There is anger among the people of Rajasthan regarding this breach of promise,” she wrote on X.
Stressing the importance of ERCP for the region, Himmat Singh Gurjar, a Congress leader from Dausa, told TOI, “It will be the main issue in these polls. We will include it in our manifesto and make a commitment to execute it in the first budget next year.”
In the 2018 elections, Congress nearly swept Dausa district-once a political turf of its leaders late Rajesh Pilot and his successor Sachin Pilot. The party won four of the district’s five assembly seats, including one each reserved for SC and ST. The fifth seat, Mahuwa, was pocketed by an independent candidate, Om Prakash Hudla, whose photos and videos cleaning hospital toilets and polishing people’s shoes went viral early this month. Hudla has this time got a Congress ticket.
Minister and local MLA Mamta Bhupesh of Congress has been renominated from her Sikrai (SC) seat. Her cabinet colleague and Lalsot MLA Parsadi Lal Meena and sitting Congress MLA from Dausa, Murari Lal Meena, have also been renominated by the party for the same seats, as suggested by Gehlot.
Murari Lal Meena has got the Congress ticket again despite opposition within the party to his candidature as he is from the ST community while Dausa is a general seat. This debate, given that the Lalsot seat is reserved for the STs, had added a layer of complexity in the selection of candidates. Meena had beaten BJP’s Shankar Lal Sharma, a general category candidate, in Dausa in the 2018 elections.
Both Congress and BJP also faced a similar crisis in Lalsot due to the rivalry between the residents of Nangal-Rajawatan/ Mandavri and the Pachvara belts. Health minister and Lalsot MLA Parsadi Lal Meena of Congress and his nearest rival in 2018, BJP’s Rambilas Meena, both hail from the Mandavri belt. There have lately been demands in both the parties for representation from the Pachvara belt. But both the parties have chosen to ignore these demands by repeating their candidates.
Much of the recent political heat in this region has emerged from the ambitious Eastern Rajasthan Canal Project (ERCP), which promises supply of water for drinking, irrigation, and industrial use in 13 districts, including Dausa, by channelising water from the Chambal River and its tributaries.
Sensing the local mood stoked by Congress, BJP began early in the election year by holding rallies centred around development issues in Dausa. Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed a rally in the region, pledging to tackle the area’s water challenges. While inaugurating the Delhi-Dausa-Lalsot stretch of the Delhi-Mumbai Expressway on February 12, he said the central government was ready with a mega proposal to merge ERCP and the Parbati-Kalisindh-Chambal River Link to provide water for drinking and irrigation to the 13 eastern districts.
Congress, on the other hand, has been demanding that the central government accord national project status to ERCP. Eyeing the substantial voter base across the 13 districts, CM Ashok Gehlot announced a couple of months ago that the state government would complete ERCP with its “own resources” without waiting for the Centre’s aid.
Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, who addressed a public rally at Sikrai in the district on Friday, tried to woo voters and corner BJP by alleging that the PM failed to fulfil his promise on ERCP despite reminders from the Gehlot government. “There is anger among the people of Rajasthan regarding this breach of promise,” she wrote on X.
Stressing the importance of ERCP for the region, Himmat Singh Gurjar, a Congress leader from Dausa, told TOI, “It will be the main issue in these polls. We will include it in our manifesto and make a commitment to execute it in the first budget next year.”
In the 2018 elections, Congress nearly swept Dausa district-once a political turf of its leaders late Rajesh Pilot and his successor Sachin Pilot. The party won four of the district’s five assembly seats, including one each reserved for SC and ST. The fifth seat, Mahuwa, was pocketed by an independent candidate, Om Prakash Hudla, whose photos and videos cleaning hospital toilets and polishing people’s shoes went viral early this month. Hudla has this time got a Congress ticket.
Minister and local MLA Mamta Bhupesh of Congress has been renominated from her Sikrai (SC) seat. Her cabinet colleague and Lalsot MLA Parsadi Lal Meena and sitting Congress MLA from Dausa, Murari Lal Meena, have also been renominated by the party for the same seats, as suggested by Gehlot.
Murari Lal Meena has got the Congress ticket again despite opposition within the party to his candidature as he is from the ST community while Dausa is a general seat. This debate, given that the Lalsot seat is reserved for the STs, had added a layer of complexity in the selection of candidates. Meena had beaten BJP’s Shankar Lal Sharma, a general category candidate, in Dausa in the 2018 elections.
Both Congress and BJP also faced a similar crisis in Lalsot due to the rivalry between the residents of Nangal-Rajawatan/ Mandavri and the Pachvara belts. Health minister and Lalsot MLA Parsadi Lal Meena of Congress and his nearest rival in 2018, BJP’s Rambilas Meena, both hail from the Mandavri belt. There have lately been demands in both the parties for representation from the Pachvara belt. But both the parties have chosen to ignore these demands by repeating their candidates.
