A LEGACY BATTLE

CM ASHOK GEHLOT IS HOPING HIS WELFARE SCHEMES WILL DO THE TRICK THIS ELECTION. CAN HE BUCK THE TREND OF INCUMBENTS BEING VOTED OUT AND MAKE HISTORY?

- ROHIT PARIHAR

Ashok Gehlot wants to change history. The 72-year-old, three-time chief minister of Rajasthan has lost twice before as an incumbent and he is desperate for it not to happen again in 2023. But it’s an uphill battle—the state hasn’t voted back a sitting government to power in nearly three decades. So even when he released Rajasthan Vision 2030 on October 6 (the government claims to have perused 30 million suggestions before finalising it), he was candid enough to admit that nobody knows who will be ruling the state then. Yet he wants to be known as the ‘welfare man’ of Rajasthan, and has spent crores on state publicity ads trying to cultivate that image. He points out with glee that even Prime Minister Narendra Modi, at his political rallies in Rajasthan, has had to promise not to end Gehlot’s welfare schemes.

The CM says the situation is different from 2003 and 2013 when he lost comprehensively. This time, he claims, there is no anti-incumbency, something that is borne out by the opinion polls that indicate a close fight, with the opposition BJP having a slight edge. One reason, he says, has been the focus, from the first year, on lastmile delivery of government schemes unlike in the past when it was just “sending a message through tokenism”. “I feared the BJP would topple us any time and it might lead to early elections. So, I was trying to be ready with achievements to show before the voters,” says Gehlot.