Congress plans sops, 'charge sheet' to take on rivals in Gujarat

Congress is planning to unveil a promise of a mega social welfare bouquet, including subsidised electricity, in election-bound Gujarat to take on the new challenger in the state, the Aam Aadmi Party, which seeks to woo the electorate with pre-poll sops. It is also readying to release a "charge sheet" against BJP to tap into the ruling party's accumulated incumbency burden in the state where it has had its longest reign of 27 years so far.

Most of the 60-odd sitting Congress MLAs are in the reckoning for renomination, as per people aware of the matter. The party's central election committee is slated to hold a meeting on Friday. Congress is also exploring limited alliances with parties such as NCP and BTP.

AICC in-charge of Gujarat Raghu Sharma, a former minister in the Rajasthan government, indicated that the Gujarat Congress' pre-poll promises will include many schemes which the Ashok Gehlot government has executed. "Congress in Gujarat will promise to implement what our party's governments, including in Rajasthan, have already implemented effectively," he said at a presser after EC announced the Gujarat poll schedule


These schemes include a revival of the Old Pension Scheme, ₹10 lakh insurance policies for families, zero electricity bill for poor families and free power supply to farmers, ₹5 subsidy per litre of milk, employment guarantee scheme for the urban poor on the lines of MGNREG ACT, meal for ₹8 from Indira kitchen scheme, ₹3 lakh loan waiver for farmers and Mahatma Gandhi English medium schools for poor children.

Yet, there are whispers in Congress circles about Rahul Gandhi not launching a blitzkrieg in the state where the opposition party gave a close fight to BJP in the 2017 polls - he addressed one rally some weeks ago. Though the Congress leadership is showcasing Gandhi's preoccupation with the Bharat Jodo Yatra and maintains he could be campaigning both in Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh as and when needed, many wonder whether Gandhi not making serial sorties into the election-bound states betrays his reluctance to bite the bullet.

"Every political padayatra is in pursuit of electoral revival, and anyone pretending otherwise is not fooling anyone," a Congress functionary said on condition of anonymity.

The election marks the first Congress poll management in many decades without the late Ahmed Patel.