Over one fourth vacant space in pandal erected for Congress president Rahul Gandhi’s much-hyped rally in CM Vasundhara Raje’s home turf in Jhalrapatan town of Jhalawar district on Wednesday and later the deserted roads from where the road show had passed in and around the city exposed the infighting among Congress workers. This was despite the party’s senior leaders, including PCC chief Sachin Pilot, having attempted to make the event a historical one.

State youth Congress and other allied outfits of the party reportedly kept themselves distanced from the events held in the wake of party’s national president’s arrival in the bastion of BJP and home constituency of CM Raje. Youth Congress state president and only winning candidate of Congress in Hadouti region on a single seat from Hindoli, Ashok Chandana, surprisingly stayed away from the party’s president’s event.

“I am not wrong if I term Rajul Gandhi’s Jhalawar rally a flop show as the rally failed to draw the crowd as per the status of the president of the oldest political party of the country that has ruled for over half century,” said a senior youth Congress worker on condition of anonymity.  A crowd of only 15,000 to 20,000 people was present in the pandal while one fourth of the space was lying vacant at the time of Rahul’s rally, another youth Congress worker, who participated in Jhalrapatan rally from Bundi district said. Congress national president Rahul Gandhi’s rallies in other parts of the state in the recent past drew crowd in lakhs, but in Jhalwar the gathering was not upto the status that of the national party president, he added.   

‘Youth Congress appeared inactive throughout Rahul Gandhi’s visit in Jhalawar and Kota and the reason is simple – the distance between state youth Congress and the Congress in Rajasthan, said a youth Congress worker. The event was adversely hit by internal infighting and groupism in the party due to which ex-MP and state minister Pramod Jain Bhaya were not involved for the arrangement and management of Rahul’s rally and road show, said  Dr Nand Singh Rathore, Jhalawar district president of Congress media cell.