By Archana Sharma
Jaipur, June 4 Rajasthan elections will be crucial this time and the fight will be interesting, say leaders of the Congress and BJP.
As such they do accept the fact that despite being a two-party state, this time, the state will witness new equations due to several small players entering the fray.
While AIMIM's Asaduddin Owaisi has already announced plans to make a foray in the state, it will change the prospects of many districts like Tonk, which is Sachin Pilot's constituency.
Most of the Muslim votes will go with him, say political sources, adding that they will mark a dent in Congress' prospects.
Similarly, RLD is already in alliance with ruling Congress and its MLA Subhash Garg is considered to be the right hand man of Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot and is a state minister. For now, it seems the alliance is there to stay.
Haryana's Jannayak Janta Party (JJP) has also announced its entry in the state's electoral politics. It has decided to contest polls on seats where the BJP is weak. So it will help the saffron party to get support in the Jat belt of the state.
The party will contest elections on many seats, including Fatehpur, Suratgarh, Kotputli, Nohar, Bhadra and Lunkaransar, said JJP president Ajay Singh Chautala. The party is an ally of the BJP in Haryana.
It needs to be mentioned here that Jats have been Congress' vote bank, and hence the JJP's entry will help the saffron party to make an inroad in this community which is already annoyed with the BJP after Satish Poonia was removed as state BJP president.
Next regional player is Rashtriya Loktantrik Party (RLP) convenor Hanuman Beniwal, who had broken his ties with the BJP due to differences with the party over farm law issues. The Jat leader has invited Sachin Pilot to form his own party and said that he will support him if he forms a new party.
Recently, in a press conference, he said that his party is open to make alliance with any party opposed to the BJP and Congress.
He also announced that if a third front is formed, it can defeat both the Congress and BJP in the upcoming elections.
Another regional player is the Bharatiya Tribal Party (BTP) which has its three MLAs. While the party extended support to the Congress during the Rajya Sabha polls, it split as one of its MLAs did not follow party's instructions and did not vote.
There are chances that this Gujarat-based party will witness a rift and there might be a new party coming in to address the issues of tribals in the state.
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