Cong chooses to bank on ‘silent’ drive with focus on key Guj candidates

CONG SEEKS TO CONSOLIDATE THE GAINS MADE IN THE 2017 POLLS, WHEN IT PUT UP ITS BEST PERFORMANCE, WINNING 77 SEATS TO THE BJP’S 99

JAMNAGAR/RAJKOT: In contrast to high- decibel electioneering by the Aam Aadmi Party and Bharatiya Janata Party, the Congress has adopted a low-key grassroots approach to the Gujarat assembly elections that might yet spring a surprise in some parts of the state, particularly Saurashtra, although the party is strapped for funds.

Congress seeks to consolidate the gains made in the 2017 elections, when it put up its best performance in decades, winning 77 seats to BJP’S 99.

Dalit leader Jignesh Mevani, the Congress candidate from Vadgam seat that he won in 2017 as an independent, has started an online crowd funding campaign using the ‘Our Democracy’ platform.

Mevani, who is working president for Gujarat Congress, aims to raise ₹40 lakh for election campaigning through the crowd funding. He has so far raised a little over ₹9.5 lakh.

“I am running a donation campaign to fund my election. I am reaching out for your help. I request you to donate whatever you can so that I fight this election with full force against the antipoor regime of the BJP,” Mevani was quoted as saying on the crowd funding platform.

He is in for a tough fight as the BJP has fielded former Congress MLA Manilal Vaghela, who quit the party in 2021. Vaghela had won the 2012 state election on Congress’s ticket from Vadgam. In the 2017 assembly elections, Congress decided to support Mevani, who won by defeating the rival BJP leader, Vijaykumar Chakravarti, by a margin of about 20,000 votes. The seat is reserved for Scheduled Caste candidates.

Compared to the BJP and AAP, the low-key campaign of Congress in Gujarat, especially in Saurashtra where it won 28 seats out of 48 in 2017, may throw up some surprises. “This is a new strategy. In every election, parties look for new ways and this time we have taken the direct grassroots approach,” Congress national spokesperson Shaktisinh Gohil said. “We feel our strategy is working. If it weren’t, why would the Prime Minister visit Gujarat so frequently for the last few months, making election speeches and holding rallies?”

Not everyone is impressed by the new strategy. Dr Mahendra Joshi, 66, a resident of Jamnagar, said “People can’t trust Congress, whose MLAS keep switching sides and join the BJP,”

The Congress’ silent campaign strategy even found a mention in one of the PM’S speeches. On October 10, Modi, at a rally in Anand district, warned BJP workers against the Congress’s “silent” campaigning, and said the party will have to modify its poll strategy to counter it. AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal has in a number of speeches in Gujarat accused Congress of being inactive. Congress leader Modhwadia said that there is a change in strategy, where instead of holding large gatherings, the party is focusing on small meetings. A BJP leader said the Congress strategy may be working in some parts, but they were not really worried about it. “While the Congress is contesting this election with focus on 125 seats, BJP’S focus remains on all 182 seats,” he said.

Elections ’22 Gujarat