Elections to the Gujarat Assembly are scheduled at the end of the year but the BJP has finalised September as the month to rev up its campaign with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, BJP chief Amit Shah and Finance Minister Arun Jaitley heading to Ahmedabad.
According to a senior office bearer in the party, Mr. Jaitley will travel to Gujarat on September 3. As poll in charge and Rajya Sabha member from the State, he will start off poll preparations there.
Plan for videoconference
Mr. Shah’s visit on September 10 is likely to be more high profile. He will address a Town Hall meet from Gandhinagar and video conference with people from 100 locations.
September 17, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s birthday, will see him address a public rally, the possible location for which could be Sadhu Bet, a riverine island facing the Sardar Sarovar Dam on the Narmada, and the location of the Statue of Unity, a large statue of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel.
At least three dam-related projects will be inaugurated on that day and 80 Narmada yatras, in different locations, will be launched to travel across Gujarat with political messaging from the BJP. A slogan, Garje che Gujarat or “Gujarat Roars” is in the process of being finalised but the launch of the slogan may not take place in September. As in all campaigns run by Mr. Shah, a numerical target has been set. For Gujarat, with an Assembly strength of 182, the target is a super ambitious 150 seats.
Patidar and Una worries
The party acknowledges that the Patidar agitation in 2015 and the Una flogging incident that targeted Dalits need to be dealt with but leaders are quite upbeat for having weaned 15 MLAs of the Congress away, with the Opposition’s main leader Shankar Singh Vaghela declaring himself as a dissident and quitting his MLA seat as well.
“Among those who quit the Congress is Ramsinh Parmar, chairperson of the Kaira District Milk Cooperatives Association [popularly known as Amul Dairy]. This is a significant victory for us,” said a party leader involved in Gujarat affairs.
