After Jaipur and Rajsamand, the Congress in Rajasthan has make one more change in its candidate list. The candidate from Bhilwara Damodar Gurjar has been shifted to Rajsamand and former Speaker CP Joshi has replace him in Bhilwara. This is being taken as a damage control exercise as there was no Brahmin candidate in the Congress list.
CP Joshi was an MP from Bhilwara from 2009 to 2014 and a prominent Brahmin face of the party. As per party sources, his name came into consideration after the change of ticket of Sunil Sharma from Jaipur City Loksabha seat. Sharma was a Brahmin candidate, but the party had to replace him after his alleged association with a pro-RSS organisation. Now there is no Brahmin candidate in the Congress list of Rajasthan.
In the meantime Congress candidate from Rajsamand Sudarshan Singh Rawat refused to contest the election so the party was looking for a new candidate for this seat.
Congress strategists, citing the need for damage control, came up with a formula to persuade CP Joshi to contest the elections from Bhilwara and shift Bhilwara candidate Damodar Gurjar to Rajsamand which is a Gurjar-dominated seat.
Although party president Govind Singh Dotasara had refuted the speculations of any change of candidates and said that there is no possibility of any change sources in the party had said that change of candidates was certain as the Brahmins are a major vote bank and Brahmin organizations and Brahmin leaders of Congress have expressed their displeasure regarding this.
Not only the Brahmins but Muslims are also not visible in the Congress list of candidates of Rajasthan this time. The earlier party used to give at least one seat to the community but this time seats like Churu, Tonk, and Jhunjhunu where the Muslims were being given tickets have already been announced.
