Congress banking on ERCP to consolidate vote share in eastern Rajasthan

PTI, Oct 15, 2023, 10:14 AM IST

The Congress plans to emphasise its demand for national status to the Eastern Rajasthan Canal Project as it kicks off its election campaign in eastern Rajasthan on Monday, with an aim to secure a substantial number of the 83 assembly seats in the region.

Of the 83 assembly seats in the region’s 13 districts, the Congress secured victory in 49 while the BJP won 25 in the 2018 elections. Independent candidates had won eights seats while the Rashtriya Lok Dal secured victory in the other.

Assembly polls in Rajasthan will be held on November 25 while the votes will be counted on December 3.

The Congress has planned to begin its campaign in eastern Rajasthan from Baran, one of the districts covered under the proposed Eastern Rajasthan Canal Project (ERCP). It has already coined a slogan ”Kiya Dil Se, Congress Fir Se” for the campaign.

The ERCP is an ambitious project, originally proposed by the previous BJP dispensation, for a permanent solution to the irrigation and drinking water problems of residents in the region’s 13 districts.

Eastern Rajasthan covers the Jhalawar, Baran, Kota, Bundi, Sawai Madhopur, Ajmer, Tonk, Ajmer, Dausa, Karauli, Alwar, Bharatpur and the Dholpur districts. The Congress campaign will cover two districts in eastern Rajasthan every day. It will also hold a public meeting in every district with state- and national-level leaders addressing those to connect with the people and target the BJP, a party leader said. Since the formation of the Congress government in Rajasthan in 2018, Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot has been cornering the BJP-led Centre, demanding national status for the ERCP.

The project, which is estimated to cost more than Rs 40,000 crore, will help augment irrigation facilities on two lakh hectares in the 13 districts.

”We are taking out a yatra against the betrayal of the Centre over the ERCP. We are starting our election campaign on October 16 from Baran district. Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge is coming and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra will address a rally in Sikrai on October 20,” Gehlot told reporters on Friday. The senior Congress leader said the party will hold small and big public meetings to ”expose” the BJP. ”Sixteen projects of national importance are running in the country. There can also be a 17th. Had the project been completed at a fast pace, the water crisis (in the region) could have been reduced. But they (Centre) created hurdles for five years,” Gehlot alleged. The chief minister said the Congress government did not stop the project, which was proposed by the previous BJP dispensation. Instead, it carried it forward.

He also pointed to the previous BJP dispensation stopping several projects, including a refinery and the Jaipur Metro, proposed between 2008 and 2013 by the-then Congress government.

The Congress has claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had promised to grant national status to the ERCP during election rallies in 2018. The BJP, however, blamed the Congress government for ”doing politics” over the project and not taking positive steps towards its completion. Union Jal Shakti Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat on Saturday told PTI, ”Ashok Gehlot wanted to do politics on this (ERCP) issue. This was Gehlot’s failure. Despite repeated talks, no positive cooperation was received from Rajasthan.” ”The project could not progress due to not getting an NOC (no-objection certificate) from Madhya Pradesh, the Rajasthan government’s stubbornness and Gehlot’s insistence on implementing the project contrary to the rules,” he added.

Gehlot’s priority is politics and not water for the people, the senior BJP leader said. Despite the Madhya Pradesh and the Rajasthan governments giving in-principle consent for the project, work got stuck due to the lack of political will, he claimed. Shekhawat said the BJP will form the government in Rajasthan after the elections and the ERCP will be implemented as a ”Nadi Jodo Pariyojna”. A Congress leader said the party aims to maintain its lead in eastern Rajasthan and added that the ERCP will play an important role in it being able to achieve the target. The Congress aims to go door to door and take out rallies in the region to make people aware about how the BJP is delaying the project for political gains, he said.