New Delhi: The Congress on Thursday appointed senior leaders and ministers as AICC observers for the 26 Lok Sabha constituencies in Gujarat which will have assembly polls later this year. Simultaneously, the party has also appointed observers for all the 182 assembly seats to ensure smooth coordination with the local teams and have better booth management.
“The presence of senior leaders and ministers boosts the morale of the party workers. The AICC observers at the parliamentary constituency level are senior and more experienced persons while those at the assembly seat level are relatively younger individuals. Together the two sets of observers will monitor the campaign and poll preparation and ensure a smooth coordination among the local teams and have better booth management,” former Gujarat Congress chief Amit Chavda said in an exclusive interview.
“These senior leaders will tour the parliamentary constituencies, meet people and resolve any minor issues. Booth management is the main focus of the party this time. Besides the AICC, we have also deployed observers from the state unit level on all the assembly seats,” he said.
Also read: People used to fear riots during Rath Yatra under Congress rule in Gujarat: Amit Shah
The move to appoint observers at three levels follows a strategy meeting that the senior state leaders had with Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and AICC in charge Organization KC Venugopal in Delhi recently. It indicates the importance that the grand old party gives to the coming assembly polls which have made the Congress hopeful of staging a comeback.
“We are going in for a micro-management. We have appointed booth level teams of 25 persons headed by Jan Mitra, who will keep in touch with the voters on a regular basis. The AICC observers will coordinate with the PCC observers and the Jan Mitras to ensure a smooth campaign down to the booth level,” said Chavda.
The former Gujarat Congress chief said the ruling BJP was having a tough time dealing with anti-incumbency of 27 years. “They have been in power for the past 27 years and have hardly done anything for the development of the state or the people,” said Chavda. The Congress leaders claimed that the BJP central leadership was also concerned over the poor performance which is why PM Modi was frequently visiting the western state.
“Modi ji has been visiting the state frequently. It is not needed but he has understood that his party will not get votes in the name of local leaders. Therefore, Modiji is trying to convert the coming polls into a contest in his name,” said Chavda, “but we will not let that happen, we will keep the assembly polls around local issues which affects the lives of people. We are going to highlight the failures of the state government in our campaign,” he said.
According to Chavda, some of the AICC observers include Ashok Chandna for Banaskantha, Ram Lal Jat for Patan, Yashomati Thakur for Vadodara, Ram Lal Meena for Bardoli (ST), Amit Chachan and Amarjeet Bhagat for Kheda, Shiv Dahariya and Raj Kumar Sharma for Surat, Sukhram Vishnoi and Gopal Meena for Amreli, Rajendra Yadav and Jagdish Chandra for Jamnagar, Nitin Raut for Valsad (ST) and Tara Chand Bhagora for Panchmahal.
