Rajasthan CM Vasundhara Raje vs Manvendra Singh: Congress masterstroke or Waterloo?

It will be battle royale in the Jhalrapatan assembly seat as the Congress has fielded Manvendra Singh, son of former BJP leader Jaswant Singh against chief minister Vasundhara Raje.

Manvendra, who was BJP MLA in the last assembly, quit the party in September, saying Kamal ka Phool meri bhool and staged "Swabhimaan" rally after which he joined the Congress. Only time will tell whether it is a masterstroke by Congress or Manvendra has been sacrificed on the altar of elections.

Manvendra too has taken a huge risk by contesting against Raje as his father and his politics centred in and around Barmer from where he has been a member of Parliament and assembly. Currently he is sitting MLA from Sheo in Barmer.

On his decision to move to new constituency, Manvendra said he was moving from Pakistan border (Barmer) to Madhya Pradesh border (Jhalwar).

Rajasthan BJP president Madan Lal Saini played down Singh's chances in the Raje stronghold. "There will be no impact on the results. The CM will retain the seat," he said.

It was earlier being felt that Manvendra was interested in contesting to Lok Sabha and was therefore not eyeing an assembly seat.

The election battle gains prominence because of the personality clash between Raje and Manvendra who don't share happy memories in recent past of politics.

His father and BJP leader Jaswant Singh wanted to contest last Lok Sabha election from Barmer but party fielded Col Sonaram who had crossed over from Congress and therefore Jaswant Singh had to contest as independent.