Rajasthan Cong. decides to not ally with BAP for panchayat polls

The Opposition Congress in Rajasthan has started preparations for the local body and panchayat elections. In a coordination committee meeting held on July 5, the party has decided to contest the polls “on its own” and not enter into an alliance with the Bharat Adivasi Party (BAP) in the tribal-dominated Vagad region, unlike in the 2024 Lok Sabha election.

Founded in 2023 by Rajkumar Roat ahead of the State Assembly election, BAP emerged victorious in three seats in the Assembly poll that year and won one seat in the by-election in 2024, taking its tally in the Assembly to four. Concerned about the inroads made by BAP in the region, the Congress is now promoting its own Other Backward Class (OBC) leaders in its organisational activities.

“The Congress is strengthening [its] organisation in the Vagad region. The leaders and party workers who wish to come back after leaving [the party] will need to explain why they had deserted the Congress,” said AICC State in-charge Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa.

Meanwhile, Pradesh Congress Committee president Govind Singh Dotasra said the booth-level agents would be appointed within a week to monitor the voter list revision.

Congress has also accused the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government of deliberately delaying the polls.

Mr. Dotasra on Monday said that the State government had appointed the OBC Commission after 18 months in office to meet the Supreme Court-mandated condition for a survey before giving reservation in the municipal elections. “The pending OBC report will be used as an excuse to postpone the polls,” he said.

The party plans to launch protests across the State over the BJP’s alleged misuse of constitutional provisions.

AICC co-incharges Ritvik Makwana and Chiranjeevi Rao, Leader of Opposition in the Assembly Tika Ram Jully, and other State leaders also attended the strategy meeting.