Congress president Sonia Gandhi and vice-president Rahul Gandhi will take on BJP prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi on his home turf in Gujarat in the coming week.
On April 24, Ms. Gandhi will address two rallies, first in Kheralu, North Gujarat and then at Valsad in South Gujarat.
Two days after that Mr. Gandhi will address three rallies — two in the Amreli and Bhavnagar districts in the Saurashtra region, and one in Dahod district.
Saurashtra is important for the Congress. In 2009, the party won four seats from here.
In Jamnagar, sitting Congress MP Vikram Madam is contesting against his niece Poonam Madam of the BJP. The Congress has fielded Palitana MLA Pravin Rathod from Bhavnagar, also a prestigious seat, after he won the Congress primaries initiated by Mr. Gandhi.
The slew of rallies are expected to generate an intense war of words with Mr Modi is also slated to address a rally in Saurashtra on April 23.
The Congress has already stepped up its attack in Gujarat with Ms. Gandhi’s political secretary Ahmed Patel accusing Mr. Modi of “spreading lies” about Gujarat’s development in the country. Speaking to reporters in Vadodara, where Congress candidate Madhusudan Mistry is contesting against the Gujarat Chief Minister, Mr. Patel dismissed the ‘Modi wave’ and demanded to know the BJP’s source of funding for its poll campaign. He questioned the Gujarat development model, citing a high child malnutrition and unemployment rate in the State.
Gujarat will go to the polls on April 30.
