BJP has tried to talk up a rivarly between Pilot and Gehlot but there seems little concern about who the Congress’ CM would be
Rajasthan Assembly Election 2018: On the ground, circumstances were seldom as propitious for the Congress as they are now in Rajasthan, two days before the state votes on November 7. Agrarian distress has taken its toll in the countryside, with farmers, including the better-off ones, complaining that they did not get the minimum support price or MSP for their produce because the state government was willing to pick up just one crop, groundnut. Giridhar Saini, who farms his 80 bigha (approximately 50 acres) of land in Laxmangarh village on the Bikaner highway, has ploughed his savings into the fruit business because he found the returns from bajra and moong dal, paltry.
“I raised a bumper moong crop this season but there are no takers for moong because the market is glutted with imported dal. Why did the government do this to me?”asked Saini. Compounding his woes was the bitter aftertaste of “note bandi”. “I had land to sell. Before demonetisation, it was worth Rs 5 lakh. I made a mistake by not selling it then. I needed money for my daughter’s marriage but no buyer would give more than Rs 2 lakh because they had deposited most of the liquid cash they had in banks. In desperation, I sold my land for Rs 3 lakh less than the original price,” said Saini.
At Lalsi village in the Sikar district, Ram Niwas Meel, a Jat farmer, said he was an inveterate Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) supporter ever since he came of voting age. “This time, I will not vote the BJP. I get only five hours of electricity in short phases and little returns on the channa, garlic, onions and wheat that I grow,” said Meel, adding, “We farmers who are used to planning for the future five years in advance now live from hand to mouth.”
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