NEW DELHI: In a desperate bid to form the Government in Rajasthan, the Congress is making an all-out effort to rope in the Support of six Janata Dal and 21 Independent candidates who hold the key to any party forming the Government in the State.
A number of party bigwigs, including Haryana Chief Minister Bhajan Lal who is known for his persuasive abilities, have rushed to Jaipur to negotiate with the elected representatives, Congress sources said.
Other Central leaders who are already in Rajasthan are Parliamentary Affairs Minister V.CShokla, Agriculture Minister Balram Jakhar, Political Secretary to Congress President Jitendra Prasada, party heavyweight G.K.Moopanar, Gujarat Pradesh Congress Committee President Prabodh Raval, and All India Congress Committee general secretaries Nawal Kishore Sharma and Ahmed Patel.
In the 200member State Legislature, the Bharatiya Janata Party has emerged as the single largest party with 94 seats, followed by the Congress with 77 seals.
OF the 21 elected Independents, the Congress claims 17 as its rebel candidates and the party feels that all of them are favorably disposed towards the party if it stakes its claim to power. Three Independents are reported to be BJP rebels. While the JD has six representatives, the Communist Party of India (Marxist) has got one seat. Election to one seat was countermanded.
The serious effort the Congress is making to form the Government in Rajasthan was evident at the daily briefing of party spokesperson V.N.Gadgil on Monday.
Asked whether the party would take the successful rebel candidates back in its fold, Gadgil said, “There are political compulsions (in expelling the rebel candidates at the time of elections)…we will have to make concessions in the interest of the party, There is no hard and fast rule as such,” he remarked in response to a question that several Congress rebel candidates have won in Rajasthan.
Article extracted from this publication >> December 3, 1993
