JAIPUR: In a last-minute shuffle of candidates, the Congress has fielded former railway minister and Rajasthan assembly speaker CP Joshi from the Bhilwara Lok Sabha constituency, which he had won in 2009.
In the ninth list of the Congress, Joshi replaced Damodar Gurjar, who was picked as the candidate for Rajsamand Lok Sabha seat in place of Sudarshan Rawat.
In 2009 Lok Sabha polls, Joshi had defeated BJP candidate VP Singh by a margin of 135,368 votes. After that the BJP won the Bhilwara seat in 2014 and 2019. Gurjar was picked for Rajsamand after party leader Sudershan Rawat declined his candidacy from there, citing personal business commitments abroad and expressing discontent over being nominated without his consent.
In a letter to party’s Rajasthan president Govind Singh Dotasra, Rawat levelled allegations against Congress leaders in the Mewar region. “During discussions for the Lok Sabha elections over the past month, I repeatedly conveyed my inability to contest to all the top leaders of the state. Merely four months after the defeat in the last assembly polls, I did not deem it morally or logically sound to contest the Lok Sabha elections. However, a prominent leader from the area kept the party in dark and proposed my name for the ticket,” Rawat said.
Demanding greater representation for the youth in polls, he emphasised the need for a candidate who could fully commit himself to the campaign.
In the Congress, some candidates have been replaced in response to various concerns. Sunil Sharma, initially nominated for Jaipur, was replaced due to his alleged links with a controversial platform, Jaipur Dialogues.