Summary:
Jodhpur: All eyes are now turned to Jodhpur Lok Sabha constituency making it the hottest seat this election, where the Congress stalwart and three-time chief minister Ashok Gehlot has launched his son Vaibhav Gehlot.Vaibhav will be taking on BJP’s Gajendra Singh Shekhawat who is contesting from here second time in succession after having defeated Congress’s Chandresh Kumari by a whopping margin of over 4.10 lakh votes in previous election.CM Gehlot is seen as the might behind his son, strengthening the belief for some that Vaibhav cannot lose from a seat which his father represented for five terms in the Lok Sabha. However, he will solely be dependent upon the local leaders and party workers, with whom, he will have to first establish introduction.It is a tough battle for him against BJP’s Shekhawat, who is believed to be a stronger contender despite the fact that the BJP lost six of eight assembly constituencies falling under Jodhpur Lok Sabha seat.BJP spokesperson Achal Singh said that Shekhawat has been a favourite of the people and had a close connect with not on the people of his constituency but also the party workers all through his stint.“You see that out of eight assembly constituencies, the BJP has lost six, which also include Pokhran, and the rest two constituencies were won by the BJP with a very low margin,” said Ansari.Everybody has its own permutation and combinations in this fight, but the pitting of chief minister’s son against a cabinet minister has brought entire attention to Jodhpur. On the other hand, several within the Congress themselves nurture a different opinion and are not a big fan of Gehlot junior.A party worker said that Vaibhav, despite being projected as having associated with the party for the past 15 years, has never interacted and mingled with the party workers and hence would solely be dependent upon the party leaders and workers in campaigning.Dispelling this argument, spokesperson of Congress Ajay Trivedi said that Vaibhav’s name had been put forward by the party leaders and workers themselves so there was no question of any opposition to this decision.“Vaibhav is now a party candidate and all the party workers and loyalists would now take it upon themselves to ensure victory for him”, said Trivedi.There were many veteran party leaders, whose names had been doing the round as the prospective candidates and many of them had been striving hard to get the nod for ticket but they had to stay back after the name of Vaibhav sprung up alongside the wish of Gehlot himself.Vaibhav, who will arrive in Jodhpur on Monday morning, will begin campaigning right away..