Infighting in Rajasthan Congress may mar its chances; Vasundhara able to make inroads

New Delhi, Aug 6: Has the Congress started realising that things are now getting difficult for it by the day which was otherwise a cakewalk for the party in Rajasthan? This is the reason that workers of both the factions of the Congress - Ashok Gehlot and Sachin Pilot -- in the state are blaming each other that they are not allowing party workers to function with full freedom or it is other way round that infighting in the Congress making things difficult.

Election in Rajasthan may be held anytime in November along with Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Mizoram. But infighting in the Rajasthan may spoil the chances of the party. Congress workers belonging to the faction of state president Sachin Pilot alleged that workers belonging to former chief minister Ashok Gehlot group are not allowing them to work.

Both the groups are looking for the maximum credit out of these elections to claim the post of chief minister. Sources in the Rajasthan Congress said that infighting between the workers of the top two leaders of the Congress in the state may mar the very chances of the Congress in the state.

Some of them even planning to ask the Congress high command to intervene into the matter before it is too late. On the contrary Rajasthan chief minister Vasundhara Raje is getting positive feedback that prospects of the BJP has started looking up and this was the reason that she has started a very aggressive campaign.

Earlier the Congress high command issued a gag order on its Rajasthan leaders after central leadership decided to go into the Rajasthan Assembly polls under the joint leadership of all senior state leaders including Ashol Gehlot, Sachin Pilot, C P Joshi and Bhanwar Jitendra Singh without projecting anyone as the chief ministerial candidate.

But this has not gone down well with the party workers in the state, which became more vocal about their choice of leader in the state. It became apparent in the one-day workshop on election management organised in Jaipur last week in which both Gehlot and Pilot participated.

But supporters of Pilot and Gehlot are indirectly attacking against each other while the chief minister is out on streets with a state BJP president of her choice who belongs to the same caste as Gehlot to counter his appeal. If the CM is able to minimize anti-incumbency or not, it will be assessed later but she is cashing on the infightings of the Congress to make inroads into voters, said analysts.