Gehlot government burning midnight oil to help Congress pull off another 2004 in 2024

JAIPUR: The boisterous victory of Congress in Karnataka Assembly polls undoubtedly has left the Congress confident and motivated but not without triggering a debate on whether it can pull off another 2004 in 2024.

The Gehlot government is burning midnight oil to get repeated in the state. It is not leaving any stone unturned to emerge as winner in Assembly polls which are scheduled to be held in or before December.

If it emerges victorious in the Assembly polls, definitely, it shall work harder to snatch 25 Lok Sabha seats from BJP.

In the 2018 election, Congress government came to power and Gehlot took over as the chief minister. However, surprisingly, six months after the election, the party lost all 25 seats to BJP in Lok Sabha polls.

This time, Gehlot is working keeping parliamentary polls in mind. He has already triggered a nationwide debate on OPS and won millions of hearts of those in government jobs. Also, he has been talking of social security for all and has implemented the right to health bill in the state.

Now, after setting these people centric schemes in place, Gehlot has been asking the central government to introduce OPS, Right to Health and social security nationally too.

Even in the Nathdwara programme held recently, Gehlot in presence of Modi, asked him to launch the Social security act and right to health all across the nation.

Surprisingly, ever since, BJP has been quiet and has not given any reply to the demands of Gehlot.

Meanwhile, Gehlot himself is monitoring the Mehangai Rahat Camp and has been travelling from one place to another as a brand ambassador of this campaign, there are crores of people who have taken benefits out of this scheme.

He is trying to get the government repeated at any cost so that he can leverage the benefits of his scheme nationally too.

Sources said Gehlot has given the responsibility of campaigning and strategy for Assembly polls to the team handling the election campaign of Congress in Karnataka. This team is engaged in various experiments like Mehangai Rahat camps. Sources claimed the state government is preparing to spend more than Rs 150 crore. In fact, the same team might join the Madhya Pradesh Congress as well.

While Gehlot is batting from the front foot keeping Assembly and Lok Sabha polls in mind, the former deputy Chief Minister Sachin Pilot, sources said have also hired political strategist Prashant Kishore team which once hailed Narendra Modi’s BJP’s campaign.

This is perhaps happening for the first time in Rajasthan, when professional teams are working for political parties. Planning secret of the strategists, but many types of survey, campaigning and strategy works are going on.

As Congress won in Rajasthan, Karnataka, Chhattisgarh, Punjab and Madhya Pradesh in the last decade, the recent biggest victory in Karnataka has left it motivated.

Karnataka is among the five largest states of the country and the party workers’ hard work and anti-incumbency against BJP, has defined the victory in this southern state.

So party workers in Congress are confident of winning the 2024 polls too. “With the kind of schemes Gehlot has brought in Rajasthan and the way OPS has become a national issue, we are sure to win the elections,” a party leader told IANS. “However, we need to fill in the plugs of factionism which are hampering party prospects,” he added. (IANS)

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