Gujarat MLAs to meet Sonia, Rahul on Monday
The legislators to discuss strategy for the upcoming Assembly elections in the state.
New Delhi: A fortnight after Congress candidate Ahmed Patel defeated BJP candidate Balwantsinh Rajput in the closely contested Rajya Sabha election in Gujarat, the 43 Congress MLAs will visit Delhi on Monday.
As many as 44 MLAs of the Congress in Gujarat were transported to Bengaluru before the Rajya Sabha elections as the Congress feared they could defect towards the BJP.
Out total 57 MLAs of the Congress in Gujarat, total six resigned before the Rajya Sabha election while eight voted against the party whip, which includes former Gujarat chief minister Shankarsinh Vaghela.
Rest 43 Congress MLAs, who voted for the Congress candidate, will meet Congress president Sonia Gandhi and vice-president Rahul Gandhi. They will also meet political secretary Ms Gandhi, Ahmed Patel; the day, incidentally, is also his birthday.
Senior Gujarat Congress leaders have already held a meeting with Mr Gandhi, which was also attended by general secretary in-charge of Gujarat, Ashok Gehlot. The leaders discussed a strategy for the upcoming Assembly elections in the state in December.
As per initial reports, there is a traction for the Congress in rural areas while the BJP still has an upper hand in the urban areas. In the last Assembly elections in 2012, the Congress won 23 out of the 41 tribal seats in the state.
At present, the Congress is focussing on the urban votes, specifically youth. The party feels the “haphazard roll out of the GST” and other economic policies of the NDA government at the Centre could help it make inroads in the business oriented urban centres of Gujarat. The Congress is also planning an aggressive social media strategy to highlight the failures of the BJP government to win over the youth votes.
Urban centres like Ahmedabad, Vadodara, Rajkot and Surat have been stronghold of the BJP in the previous Assembly polls.
Mr Gandhi will visit Gujarat for five days in September. A detailed programme is being worked out for his interactions with youth in urban centres as well as ‘yatras’ in rural areas. The Assembly elections to Gujarat will be held in December.