During his earlier visits to Gujarat, Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi used to address one or two public rallies in a day before heading back to New Delhi. This time around, things have changed and the Congress scion, during his four-phase Gujarat Navsarjan Yatra, covered almost the entire poll-bound state.
This is for the first time after former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi that any Congress leader of Gandhi's stature stayed in Gujarat continuously for more than two days.
Gandhi's campaign tour seems to have struck the right chord as he has been receiving overwhelming response in areas where he halted to hold meetings with people.
From the first leg of the campaign tour that began from Dwarkadhish Temple in Dwarka to the fourth leg of his tour that ended in North Gujarat, a hub of Patidar community, Gandhi had been on attacking mode. Each phase was of three days.
For the Congress, which is feeling rejuvenated after Ahmed Patel's victory in Rajya Sabha polls, Gandhi being on the offensive could not have come at a better time. Gone, seems to be, are the times when the BJP and Narendra Modi would set the poll agenda in the state and the Congress would go on the defensive.
The Congress vice president raised some pertinent questions and it was up to PM Modi and the BJP to come up with answers. He questioned the complex nature of the GST to which PM Modi's answer was that even the finance ministers of Congress ruled states were also party to the decision on the GST. GST was merely a case in point.
The number of jokes on 'Pappu' have reduced and the Congress quickly took objection to an advertisement in which a prominent Gujarati theatre actor was featured. The Election Commission barred the BJP from using the word 'Pappu' in its poll campaigns.
“It is for the first time that we got such a good response in Saurashtra region. Not all were party workers. There were traders, who had come to speak to Rahul Gandhi,” said Gujarat Congress spokesperson Manish Doshi
In his South Gujarat phase of yatra, a class 10-student took a selfie with Gandhi by climbing on to his vehicle and later a young boy traveled for some distance with him in his vehicle.
In his other tours, he broke the security cordon and shared chocolates with children and took photographs with farmers in the fields. Gandhi was indeed striking the right chord.
While listening to people, Gandhi assured that his party would try to include their wishes in the election manifesto.
For the Congress, which is aiming to come back to power after over two decades, Gandhi has set the stage for hectic political campaigning. He is due to make many more visits. The BJP's answer to Gandhi is Modi and party chief Amit Shah, who are slated to criss-cross the state in the days to come.
