Congress launches campaign for Gujarat local body polls

The Congress party has launched its campaign in Gujarat to reach out to urban voters in view of the upcoming local body elections. Similar campaigns are to be launched in rural and municipality areas

Ahmedabad: Ahead of the upcoming elections to local bodies in Gujarat, the Congress on Tuesday launched a campaign to reach out to urban voters of six municipal corporations, which are currently ruled by the BJP.

Under the campaign titled 'Hello', residents of Ahmedabad, Bhavnagar, Jamnagar, Rajkot, Surat and Vadodara can raise civic issues by calling up a dedicated number or sending messages on Whatsapp, party leaders told reporters.

'This campaign is meant for the people living in six municipal corporation areas where the BJP has ruled for several terms but has failed to resolve basic civic issues.

We will listen to the problems and issues being faced by the residents of these six urban centre and take them forward,' said Gujarat Congress unit president Amit Chavda.

Similar campaigns will be launched in rural and municipality areas as well as in two other municipal corporations in Gujarat, Chavda said.

Other leaders said the feedback received from citizens during this drive will be used to draft the Congress' manifesto for the local body polls.

Under the campaign, minivans were flagged off by senior leaders, including Congress in-charge for Gujarat Rajeev Satav, Leader of the Opposition Paresh Dhanani and others.

Elections to six municipal corporations, including Ahmedabad, 55 municipalities, 31 district panchayats and 231 taluka panchayats were supposed to be held in November 2019, a month before their five-year terms came to end, but were postponed by three months in view of the COVID-19 pandemic.

PTI