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Elections in Gujarat:
Congress all set to ‘Chak De’

 
The Congress is the latest to join the long list of those inspired by the recent Shahrukh Khan starrer "Chak De India". Adapting the title for the upcoming crucial Gujarat assembly elections, the party’s new slogan, "Chak De Congress" is set to resonate in its poll campaign to be launched by Congress president Sonia Gandhi in Vadodra on October 30.

Colourful "Chak De Congress" posters were plastered on the two dozen Innovas which were handed over to the party district chiefs at a special function in Valsad as the Congress mobilises its workers to battle Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi. The party is hoping the popularity of the film and the slogan will help it to connect with the people in what presently looks to be a neck-and-neck fight between BIP’s Modi and the Congress.

The Congress believes several factors are working in its favour in this election. Although Modi continues to enjoy an "industry-friendly" image, its assessment is that the common man has got disillusioned with him. In an effort to cash in on Modi’s unpopularity among these sections, the party’s state unit’s campaign will focus on Modi’s poor track record as an administrator, the promises he failed to keep and his dictatorial style of functioning.
The Central leaders will instead focus on how Modi failed to utilize the funds it received from New Delhi.

The Congress is well aware that Modi will attempt to inject a communal colour to the campaign to polarize the polity as he had done in the last assembly elections, which followed shortly after the Godhra riots. However, the feedback from the state unit is that Modi is unlikely to succeed in this attempt as anti-incumbency has set in and more and more people are questioning his tall claims of providing a corruption-free administration.
Besides this, the Congress is banking on the dissensions in the BJP ranks, a sharp contrast to the united show being put up by its Gujarat unit which is fighting single-handedly to defeat Modi. The 11 BJP MLAs and two MPs who have rebelled against their party have promised to assist the Congress in dethroning Modi.

A still from Godhra Carnage

The Congress is wary of inducting these rebels into the party fold given the strong resistance from its state unit and the proactive role played Goverdhan Zadaphia, former BJP home minister in the post-Godhra riots.

The rebels, led by former s Gujarat chief minister Suresh Mehta, have instead formed a separate forum - the Sardar Patel Utkarsh Samiti - which will launch a frontal attack against Modi.

Having learnt a bitter lesson in the recent UP assembly elections, the Congress has decided not to purchase any vehicles for Gujarat. It will instead hire 300-odd Innovas. The Congress had purchased 70 Boleros for the UP elections which were handed over to the party’s district presidents on the promise that these will be returned to the AICC after the elections. Only 34 were.