Date:02/11/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/11/02/stories/2008110260470700.htm

National

Congress in a fix over Jats’ reaction to ticket distribution

Special Correspondent

Party veteran Maderna fires salvo over selection of candidates

Party poll managers had been patting themselves for allocating 21 seats to Jats in first list itself
Maderna flays role of “power brokers”, says tickets were given to those “who could buy it”

JAIPUR: The response from a section of the Jat leadership in the Rajasthan unit of the Congress to the party’s first list of 116 candidates for the forthcoming State Assembly elections has put the Congress leadership in an awkward position. Their exasperation is all the more as the polls managers had been priding themselves on the “good job” they could do in the ticket distribution and also in allocating as many as 21 seats to the by now “difficult to please” Jat community here.

The bewilderment is too obvious as the once bitten -- it is assumed that the Jats’ distancing from the Congress was one reason for the party’s defeat here in 2003 -- Congress leadership had been doubly cautious in dealing with the community in the past. The first list itself had ensured maximum representation for Jats, with the next largest group in the list, the Rajputs, trailing far behind with almost half that number.

Though a critical reaction from the Jat leaders was not totally unexpected, the party veteran and senior Jat leader Parasram Maderna, himself making an issue of the “neglect” of farmer communities in the distribution of tickets over the weekend in Jodhpur, came as a surprise.

Accompanied by his son Mahipal Maderna, the veteran, who had been keeping away from active politics for the past one decade, accused the party of ignoring the committed workers.

Mr. Maderna, a former Speaker of the Rajasthan Assembly, spoke about the role of “power brokers” in the selection and alleged allocation of tickets to those “who could pay for it”. He also said that he was sending yet another letter to party president Sonia Gandhi as the suggestions he had made in the previous letter to her were ignored while deciding on the candidates. He even talked about the delimitation exercise affecting the territories of the farming community.

“The Jats are sure to get more representation in the next list,” he party functionary affirmed. The Congress had granted tickets to 32 Jats in 2003.

Though primarily focused on the immediate neighbourhood of Jodhpur district, Mr. Maderna’s ire is obviously targeted at the perceived say the Congress general secretary and former Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot had in the choice of candidates.