How Congress Failure To Douse Rebel Fire Has Emboldened The Bjp In Rajasthan

The East and the West in Bikaner meet at Ganga Sheher Road. GS Road, as it is called, runs through the city neatly dividing the two urban assembly segments in north Rajasthan's biggest commercial hub.

And right in the middle of this great divide sits Gopal Gehlot, the expelled district Congress president who is now contesting as a rebel from both Bikaner East and West.
Gehlot comes from backward Mali community. In Congress' first, list he was nominated to replace party stalwart and former leader of opposition in the state assembly BD Kalla.

Protest followed, so Gehlot was shifted to the adjoining seat. Congress Legislature Party leader Rameshwar Duddi threatened not to contest if his nominee was not accommodated instead. Gehlot was summarily dropped.

So Gopal Gehlot decided to contest as a rebel from two seats- Bikaner East and West.

His election symbol is a pair scissors.

At Mali Samaj Bhawan on the Nagaur Road, Gehlot supporters assemble early morning to plan the day's campaign.

Maganlal Panecha chatting with others at the forecourt of the community house wonders why Congress leadership created this confusion in ticket distribution.

He is in charge of a block in the district Congress committee and has now come out in open support of Gehlot.

"It is here in the month of October that Rahul Gandhi said that he would not allow parachute candidates. But that is precisely what has happened," he says.

Sensing an opportunity, BJP national president Amit Shah made an unscheduled visit to Bikaner last week and held a road show to galvanise the party cadre and optimise the situation arising out of the confusion in the Congress camp.

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