It marks not only the settlement of an old political score between the Meena and Gujjar communities but also constitutes a slap in the face of former chief minister Vasundhara Raje Scindia , who had persuaded the retired army colonel to fight the election on a BJP ticket.

Another notable feature of the poll result was the decisive defeat of the pro-RSS leader, Ghanshyam Tiwari from the Jaipur constituency. This is a seat, which the BJP had held for more than a decade.

Some Rajasthan BJP leaders are blaming Raje for the twin humiliation: defeat of the party both in the November assembly elections and the Lok Sabha poll now. But this seems to be a simplistic explanation.

It was a costly mistake by the Central leadership of the party to re-nominate a dozen of the old guard, overlooking their non-winnability. The internal rivalry in the BJP was in turn responsible for the selection of wrong persons — a realisation which has come rather too late. The BJP was perhaps more than confident when it went into the electoral battle for a second time in six months. The net result is that 10 out of the 12 re-nominated MPs lost the election.

The poll result constitutes a major setback for BSP leader and UP Chief Minister Mayawati also as the party drew a blank in the state. .

But CPI's Amra Ram did put up a good fight in Sikar, though he lost the close race.

The Lok Sabha poll also taught a lesson to Congress veteran, Buta Singh, who revolted against the party's decision to deny him the ticket this time. Buta, who contested as an Independent, not only lost but also had to face the humiliation of forfeiting his deposit.

The outcome also administered a telling blow to senior BJP leader Jaswant Singh, whose son Manvendra Singh failed to get re-elected this time from Barmer. Some state party leaders ridiculed Jaswant Singh for having fled to the cool climes of Darjeeling, leaving his home state at a time when his presence was needed. They argued that if the former union minister wanted to fight for a Lok Sabha seat and prove his importance at the national level, he should have joined the battle in his home state. This is a reflection of the continuing rivalry between Jaswant Singh and Vasundhara Raje.

But Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot cannot afford to spend too much time celebrating Congress victory. He is facing a host of problems which demand early solution. The most important is the implementation of the NREGA scheme. There have been complaints of long delays in payment of wages to the rural poor.

Under the revised procedure, the payment of wages is to be routed through post offices to avoid corruption by the state officials. But the babus are creating all sorts of hurdles in the actual receipt of wages by the workers. The Congress government should not allow the good, popular scheme to be sabotaged by the RSS men manning the official machinery. (IPA)