Politics in the Barmer parliamentary constituency—the second largest in India—has turned combustible once again. What began as a routine reinstatement of two expelled veterans in the Congress has snowballed into public protests, smear campaigns and an open rift in the party’s state unit. At the heart of this storm is three-time MLA Mewa Ram Jain, who returns a year after he was expelled under state chief Govind Singh Dotasra’s orders due to his name figuring in a gangrape case under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act in Jodhpur.

Jain was later acquitted, but his political career continues to be shadowed by an alleged “CD sex scandal” that had surfaced in 2012 as questions linger about extortion, money laundering and hush money payments linked to it, leading to an

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