Rajasthan Congress MLAs blame Rahul Gandhi for poor crowd

Rahul Gandhi is coming under criticism from some Congress candidates in Rajasthan, which goes to the polls today.

While some leaders in Delhi believe it’s the poor choice of candidates that’s behind the thin crowd at the party vice-president’s rallies, Congress candidates in Rajasthan hold Rahul himself responsible.

“He (Rahul) is always late by 2-3 hours and leaves the gathering dissatisfied,” a candidate told dna. This candidate was among the few for whom Rahul had campaigned in the state.

In fact, party candidates say people have nothing against the Congress government in Rajasthan either. People are angry with the leaders at the centre for not doing anything to bring down inflation and prices, they say.

It’s this anger, they reason, that led chief minister Sheila Dikshit to ask prime minister Manmohan Singh to skip all public rallies in Delhi.

Poll-bound Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan have seen some 54 rebel candidates filing nominations against official Congress candidates.

In Delhi, Congress candidates have a different complaint. They are upset at the lack of support from the party headquarters.

“Our spokespersons have been so fixed on attacking Narendra Modi for the past two weeks that they have no time to focus on elections. The BJP is bombarding the media with so many press conferences and statements on its campaign in Delhi,” a candidate told dna.

As complaints continue, Rahul Gandhi had asked for a scrupulous selection process for the Lok Sabha elections.

The new process includes a four-tier system.

The first strategy, already under process, involves scanning all the 543 constituencies to find the most suitable candidates.

The second is to compare and contrast the reports of party observers, who will soon fan out to all constituencies after the assembly polls, with the reports of private agencies.

Sources said Congress general secretary Madhusudan Mistry will convene a meeting of observers in the second week of December for initiating the process. One more private agency will check the observers’ recommendations.

Selection of candidates
Party sources said the conventional practice of seeking names from state units shall continue. These names will be vetted by observers and the two private agencies. Those who find place in all four lists will be given tickets, said a party source. The agencies are using a complicated mathematical formula to rate and score aspiring candidates.