New Delhi: The Congress has decided to prepare the ground on all 26 Lok Sabha seats in Gujarat following a public feedback and review exercise. AICC in-charge of Gujarat Mukul Wasnik reviewed all 26 parliamentary seats in the state over the past two days, along with state unit chief Shakti Sinh Gohil and CLP leader Amit Chavda, in Ahmedabad.
Over the past two months, AICC secretaries in-charge of the state and senior leaders travelled across the state to obtain feedback from the public and party workers on the Congress’ prospects for the 2024 Lok Sabha polls. “The feedback is positive. Each senior leader was assigned a few seats to survey. The AICC in-charge reviewed all the seats over the past two days. Accordingly, it has been decided that the Congress should prepare ground to fight on all the 26 Lok Sabha seats in the state,” Chavda told ETV Bharat.
According to the CLP leader, based on the feedback, a mass contact programme in all the 250 blocks across the state is being planned. “We hope to roll out our 'Jan Sampark' programme after Diwali. All the senior leaders will hit the streets. We will talk about the people’s problems like unemployment and price rise and present Congress as an alternative,” said Chavda.
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The Congress leader said the party has been trying to corner the BJP government headed by Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel over issues like OBC reservation, appointment of educational assistants, which are contract appointments in schools to deal with the shortage of teachers and the plight of around 20 lakh diamond industry workers.
“The diamond industry employs around 20 lakh people in various districts, but Surat has become a hub of diamond trade. There is a crisis in the Gujarat diamond industry. Over the past two months, 30 workers committed suicide over livelihood issues. The diamond industry is suffering as the supply of rough diamonds that used to come from Russia and its neighbouring areas has been hit due to the Ukraine war and economic sanctions on Russia. We are planning to stage a massive protest in Surat next week to demand a financial package for them from the State government,” said Chavda, adding that the issue would impact the next Lok Sabha polls.
According to AICC secretary-in-charge of Gujarat BM Sandeep Kumar, who visited the Porbandar area, the AAP factor, which dented the Congress in the 2022 Assembly polls, is not strong in the state. “The people, who had voted for AAP in the assembly polls are now returning to the Congress fold. With a little bit of effort, it would not be difficult for Congress to regain its original 40 per cent vote share. When it comes to national polls, they see Congress as the only alternative to the BJP,” Kumar said.
In the Assembly polls, the AAP had taken 13 per cent votes of the Congress causing the grand old party’s vote share to drop from 40 per cent to 28 per cent. “The 13 per cent vote share has further reduced by half as several AAP workers have joined us. They are not much of a factor in the Lok Sabha elections,” said Chavda.
