After 10 years, breach in Rajasthan fort

Jaipur: The Congress has made a strong comeback in Rajasthan in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, securing an impressive eight out of 25 Parliamentary seats and supporting its alliance partners to victories on three other seats. This remarkable turnaround follows the grand old party's lacklustre performances in 2014 and 2019 general elections when it failed to secure a single seat in the state.Despite facing a setback in the Assembly polls just six months back, the Congress adeptly capitalised on the anti-incumbency sentiment against sitting BJP MPs, deftly leveraged caste interests, and forged strategic alliances with the CPIM, RLP and BAP. These astute efforts contributed significantly to the Congress's resurgence.The comeback would solidify party president Govind Singh Dotasra’s position, bolstering his leadership and amplifying his influence over party affairs. His aggressive and dynamic election campaign drew significant attention, contrasting with the more focused efforts of former chief minister Ashok Gehlot, who concentrated on the Jalore constituency for his son Vaibhav Gehlot, and former deputy chief minister Sachin Pilot, who campaigned selectively.“Dotasra’s reputation has been elevated among party central functionaries for securing 11 seats after a dry spell of zero seats in 2019 and 2014. He will now have a free hand to operate as state president compared to the diminishing power of Gehlot,” noted a party source.In a post on X, Dotasra said, “Rajasthan has created history. I express gratitude to the people of Rajasthan for giving their blessings in the form of votes to the Congress-India alliance in the fight to save democracy and the constitution.”The party’s alliances with regional parties RLP and BAP yielded favourable results, with Hanuman Beniwal from Nagaur and Rajkumar Roat from Banswara emerging victorious. The national-level alliance with CPIM also had a positive impact, as Amra Ram secured the Sikar seat.The victory becomes all the more significant as Congress top brass largely stayed away from Rajasthan. Congress star campaigners like Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi and Mallikarjun Kharge barely made 2–5 public rallies in both the phases. On the other hand, PM Narendra Modi, Union home minister Amit Shah and party national president JP Nadda, along with a formidable battery of leaders, were campaigned aggressively in the state.“The newly formed BJP govt inadvertently shaped the Congress campaign strategy. CM Bhajan Lal Sharma’s decisions, like reducing fuel price by Rs 2-3, changes in ERCP and Yamuna Link Project, and replacing Chiranjeevi health insurance scheme, annoyed the people,” said Congress spokesperson Swarnim Chaturvedi.The party adeptly took advantage of the caste fault lines that surfaced following the formation of the govt. Gujjars, Meenas and Jats were disgruntled over lack of representation in the council of ministers. Congress played up BJP as an anti-farmer party by roping in many farmer unions. Rajputs’ annoyance with BJP sticking to Parshottam Rupala as its candidate despite widespread protests against him shifted the community votes to Congress.“Congress played up the issue by fielding community-specific candidates in seats like Ganganagar, Churu, Jhunjhunu, Sikar, Dausa, and Tonk-Sawai Madhopur. The result was that Jats, Meenas and Gujjars voted in huge numbers, confirming the victory of Congress candidates,” said a party source. The party took the calculated risk of fielding two turncoats—BJP-turned-Congress candidate Rahul Kaswan and NDA-turned-Congress candidate Ummedaram Beniwal from Barmer. Even after opposition from local party leaders, Dotasra and Gehlot stood by the decision.Get real-time updates and result insights on the CBSE 12 Result 2026.