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By Jaykishan Sharma: Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot celebrated his 72nd birthday on Wednesday in the tribal pockets of Udaipur, where he interacted with students, ate food with them, listened to their problems and spent a night as part of his Mission 59.
The Congress has turned to its traditional vote bank – the Dalits and the tribals – ahead of the assembly elections this year and the Lok Sabha elections next year. The grand old party has launched Mission 59 in the state to focus on the 59 Dalit and tribal seats in the state.
“The core objective of Mission 59 is to strengthen the Congress on the seats reserved for the SCs and STs in Rajasthan. Here, the Congress is preparing to develop a new leadership, which is why the party has undertaken an experiment for the first time, appointing non-SC-ST assembly co-ordinators to the SC-ST assembly seats. Co-ordinators have been appointed to all the 34 SC seats, while it is yet to install coordinators for the ST seats,” a senior Congress leader said on the condition of anonymity.
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“After independence, the Brahmins used to vote unilaterally for the Congress. After a decade or so, the Congress began cultivating Jats, who also completely turned towards the party. But a few years later, the Congress felt that it would now have to move towards other communities as well and started moving towards the Dalit-Adivasi-Muslim and OBCs. The biggest sections which got strongly associated with the Congress with this formula were the Dalits and tribal class,” Rakesh Sharma, a political analyst, said.
The Adivasis continued to support the Congress for a long time, he said, adding that with time, many other parties evolved, including the BJP and Bharatiya Tribal Party. The Congress now wants to get back this vote bank, Sharma said.
There are 34 SC and 25 tribal seats in Rajasthan. Of the last three terms, two were of the Congress. Despite this, the BJP managed to win a significant number of seats in these categories in the three elections. The BJP is ahead in SC seats even as the Opposition in the state.
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The BJP won 88 of the total 177 Dalit-Tribal seats in the past three assembly elections. However, despite winning twice, the Congress managed to win only 69 seats. The rest of the seats were won by others, including the BTP and the Independents.
This election will be more interesting. Earlier, only the BJP would be a challenge for the Congress in these seats. But now a new challenger has arisen in the form of the BTP.
The last time, the BTP contested 11 seats and secured 0.72 percent votes and won two. This time, it is believed that the BTP can contest from more seats.
Similarly, the BSP is a big challenge for the Congress in the Dalit seats. The BSP won six seats in the last election with over four per cent vote share. However, the Congress was later successful in inducting all the BSP MLAs into the party.
However, the relations between the Congress and the BSP have soured in the last few years and it is believed that the BSP will be a problem for the Congress in the coming elections.
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