Hadauti region in Congress cross hairs

In a strategic move, the Congress is putting its entire force to strengthen the party in Kota division, which is the home turf of chief minister Vasundhara Raje. It is the same region from where the party was wiped out in 2013 assembly election. Almost a month after launching ‘Mera Booth Mera Gaurav’ (MBMG) from here, the RPCC chief Sachin Pilot is all set to hold the second leg of the programme in Jhalrapatan constituency represented by Raje.

In the previous assembly election, the Congress received a big jolt when it won only one seat in Kota division while the remaining 16 seats went to the BJP. 

Comparing the opposition party’s performance in other divisions, where they won three-five seats each, the performance of Congress at Raje’s home turf Kota, also known as Hadouti, was worst.

Taking note of their dismal show and Raje’s clout, the Congress is specifically targeting Kota to ensure the chief minister can be ‘tamed’ in her own backyard. 

Hence, when Congress went to launch party president Rahul Gandhi’s brainchild programme MBMG at divisional headquarters, it look no further than Kota.

Pilot with senior leaders on April 23 launched the programme. Strikingly, in October 2017 Pilot had chosen Kota division for his Nyay Yatra to address farmers’ issues. He took out 100km long four-day yatra from Baran which concluded in Jhalawar, the home constituency of the CM.