Rajasthan assembly polls 2023: Gehlot kicks off Mission 2030 to combat BJP's development plank

Mission 2030 will see Gehlot visit 18 districts across Rajasthan in nine days

Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot kicked off the Mission 2030 campaign in poll-bound Rajasthan on September 27. The CM will visit 18 districts across the state as part of the campaign in the next nine days. The yatra will take a break on October 2 on the occasion of Gandhi Jayanti.

During the campaign, Gehlot will hold town hall meetings, interact with youth and women. He had earlier said the campaign aims at propelling Rajasthan to the front row of developed states in the next seven years.

Gehlot’s brainchild

Mission 2030 is the brainchild of Gehlot. The CM collected suggestions by holding intensive discussions with developmental experts and citizens, gathering over 4.5 lakh insights, sources told CNBC TV18.

According to the report, the state government invited suggestions through the Jan Kalyan app. It is conducting door-to-door surveys through the party's community volunteers and organising essay and speech competitions to understand the aspirations of the people.

Additionally, public input was gathered through online and offline surveys, amassing over 74 lakh suggestions by over 45 lakh citizens. Gehlot had earlier said Mission 2030 is an affirmation of his commitment to providing people with social security. He also compared the mission with the initiatives of the Centre.

“Providing social security to the people is a duty of the government. Welfare and development are interlinked. Mission 2030 is about ensuring the development of the state, keeping the wellbeing of the people at the heart of the exercise,” said Gehlot.

Congress-BJP battle

Since 1998, Rajasthan politics has seen a revolving door paradigm of Congress-BJP regimes. The dates of voting and counting are expected to be announced by the Election Commission by October 2023. For Congress, Gehlot is the likely chief ministerial candidate. BJP is yet to announce the name of its chief ministerial candidate.

BJP’s bet on a post-Raje future, Gehlot’s on East Rajasthan water woes

It is being said that after Madhya Pradesh, BJP may field big-ticket central leaders for the Rajasthan polls too in order to present a collective front.

Meanwhile, Congress plans to fight the election unitedly. “We deliberated on how the cycle of BJP and Congress coming to power alternately can be broken and Congress can come to power. We agreed that we can work hard in the next few months and ensure Congress’s return to power,” Congress leader Sachin Pilot told CNBCTV18.