Lok Sabha elections: BJP, Cong line up star cast for Gujarat campaign

With just a week left for the Gujarat elections, scheduled for May 7, campaigning, which has remained quite low key so far, is picking up across constituencies. Bharatiya  Janata Party (BJP), which has won all 26 seats in the previous two Lok Sabha elections in 2014 and 2019 and is aiming to repeat the success story this time as well, has planned public meetings and rallies of its top star campaigners through the week. Congress, which has seen an early setback in the Surat constituency with the BJP candidate Mukesh Dalal being declared a winner ahead of the election, is trying to match up.

For BJP, in the last week of campaigning, it’s mostly going to be all the way a Modi-Shah show in terms of large rallies and public meetings in Gujarat, their home state. Prime Minister Narendra Modi will address two public meetings in Deesa (Banaskantha) and Himmatnagar (Sabarkantha) on May 1 (Wednesday) and four in Anand, Surendernagar, Junagadh and Jamnagar on May 2 (Thursday), according to a BJP functionary. Home Minister Amit Shah, who’s fighting for re-election from the Gandhinagar seat, may hold at least two more rallies on May 3 and 4 in central and south Gujarat. These two are still being finetuned though, it is learnt. On Tuesday, he addressed a public meeting in Naroda, Ahmedabad.

Sources indicated that Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath may also chip in this week to add to the BJP firepower in Gujarat campaign, but there’s no confirmation on this so far.  

Congress is lining up its strongest crowd pullers this week too before the campaigning comes to an end in the state. Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, general secretary of the All India Congress Committee, will address a rally on May 3 in Lakheni Banaskantha. Other senior leaders of Congress such as P Chidambaram and Mallikarjun Kharge are gearing up to convince people of the state to vote for a change.

Chidambaram, for instance, will address a press conference in Rajkot on May 3. Rajkot, part of the Saurashtra region, witnessed protests against the BJP after controversial remarks on Rajputs by Union minister Parshottam Rupala. Of the two union ministers whose Rajya Sabha tenures came to an end recently, Mansukh Mandaviya will contest from Porbandar and Rupala from Rajkot.

Although the plan awaits confirmation, Rahul Gandhi, Congress MP representing Wayanad constituency and seeking re-election from there, may join the Saurashtra campaign rush this week. Other Congress leaders to be part of the Gujarat campaign include Ashok Gehlot, Mukul Wasnik and Imran Kidwai, it is learnt.       

Even as BJP is banking on Brand Modi for a hatrick in Gujarat to win all 26 seats, of which Surat is already in its pocket, social issues around Kshatriyas/Rajputs are dominating in some constituencies, especially in the Saurashtra region. But BJP functionaries are putting up a brave front, dismissing any concern at all, while arguing that at the ground level Congress has gone missing.

Apart from lining up a star cast for the last leg of campaigning, BJP rallies are focusing on three things—third sweep by the party in the state, projecting Viksit Bharat goals and placing on record the achievements of the last 10 years, while taking on Congress wherever possible, a source pointed out.

Congress, on the other hand, has looked at the Rajput protests as an opportunity to make some inroads into the state. But sources in Congress say that the biggest success story in this election season is that ‘’Congress is speaking and BJP is reacting’’. The sources also claim that Congress is giving a fight to the BJP in Gujarat in more than 10 seats.

After BJP candidate Mukesh Dala’s Surat win, Gujarat will see 25 Lok Sabha seats in Gujarat go to polls on May 7 with 266 candidates in the fray.