Rajasthan : Jhalawarapatan, a high profile constituency of former chief minister and state Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) unit president Vasundhara Raje, is now synonymous with her. She is a five-time MP and two-time MLA from here.

Raje, after filing her nomination papers on November 12, has not devoted much time to the constituency as she has been  criss-crossing the state spearheading the party campaign. In her absence, her son Dushyant Singh, MP, and daughter-in-law Niharika Singh handle her campaign. The BJP here is only prepared to talk about her margin of victory as they perceive her win as a foregone conclusion.

BJP district general secretary Sanjay Jain “Thau,” sits pretty along with a bunch of leaders at the party office, in contrast to an empty Congress office. He says: “Madam had only four meetings in the constituency so far. We were told that there will be a road show on November 29 at Raipur, Jhalawar and Jhalawarapatan before the campaign concludes. But we are awaiting confirmation.”

He lists her achievements in the constituency for the perceived over confidence. “Jhalawar is the first district headquarters in the state to have a medical college. The mini secretariat , airport, stadium, science park, police training centre, thermal power station, highways, railway line…the list goes on and on.”

Another leader adds: “When Sonia Gandhi came to Kota for campaigning, her plane landed here in the airport and she proceeded by helicopter to Kota. Even Kota, a divisional headquarters, does not have the facilities which we have here and the credit goes to Raje.”
 Even Congress supporters concede that she had done a lot for the constituency, which got special treatment after she became the chief minister in 2003. Rajesh Gujjar, a Congressman and the sarpanch of Govardhanpura panchayat, says: “When it comes to Raje, there is no politics here. People enjoy the VIP status of the constituency and appreciate the development here.”
The Congress has put up a local leader Meenakshi Chandrawat, a Rajput, here. But the odds are stacked against her as she is taking on a former chief minister and a chief ministerial candidate. Meenakshi, a youth leader who rose from the ranks of the National Students Union of India and the Youth Congress, started her electoral politics in 1998 contesting from the adjoining Khanpur seat.

She tasted victory in her very first attempt but had to face two consecutive defeats from the same constituency. So she has been shifted to Jhalawar this time.  BJP leaders claim that Meenakshi was nominated as none of the other Congress leaders was prepared to contest against Raje and spoil their political prospects.