JAIPUR: The ruling party in the state has had an edge over its opposition during the past three Lok Sabha polls, a trend that the state Congress will be banking upon but BJP is keen to break that in the forthcoming elections.Four months after the assembly polls, which saw Congress scrape through to power, the two main political parties here brace up for yet another battle with much higher stakes. With the recent win in the December 2018 assembly polls, Congress hopes its victory lap would continue while the state BJP is heavily relying on PM Narendra Modi’s popularity to cover the lost ground.The defeat of BJP in the Vidhan Sabha polls has not deterred the saffron party’s confidence in claiming that it will win all Lok Sabha seats in Rajasthan. It is confident of repeating the feat in 2019 much like in 2014, when riding high on the Modi wave, it had swept all the 25 seats.Congress in December 2018 had managed to form the government in the state but had fell short one for the full majority. It is believed that the party would face a tough time facing BJP in the LS polls mainly because Modi continues to be popular in the state, to the extent that it would cover up the anti-incumbency against the sitting MPs of the party. The BJP is banking upon the low victory margin of Congress in the assembly polls.Stakes are high for the senior leaders of the state CM Ashok Gehlot and former chief minister Vasundhara Raje. Raje is now BJP’s national vice-president and despite the party’s loss in the recent assembly polls, she continues to be the face of the saffron party here. Moreover, of the 23 incumbent MPs of BJP, five are junior ministers at the Centre.Both the political parties had started preparations for the LS polls immediately after the assembly elections. The Congress government, in order to gather as much support as possible, announced farm loan waiver , pension for small and marginal farmers and allowance to unemployed youth. The populist move of free water to domestic consumers in rural and urban areas came only two days ago. Congress has already begun its brainstorming for suitable candidates.BJP, on the other hand, continues to hold meetings to strengthen its organisation. The party is confident that it would be able to win back the lost votes.In the last Lok Sabha polls, it was the BJP’s landslide victory in 2013 Vidhan Sabha polls, which had contributed to winning all 25 LS seats. Similarly, the 2009 Lok Sabha polls, which had followed the 2008 assembly polls when Congress came to power, saw Congress winning 20 and BJP 4 seats. Prior to that, the 2004 Lok Sabha polls saw BJP, which was the ruling party in the state, winning on 21 seats while Congress had managed only four.Though the trends go in the favour of the ruling party, this Lok Sabha elections is likely to an exception and in many ways, similar to the 1999 general elections when BJP, which despite being in the opposition in the state then, had gone on to win 16 seats while the ruling Congress had won 9 seats.

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