The final campaign for the 2nd Phase of the Gujarat elections ended yesterday. Now all that remains is the voting and the results.
Rahul Gandhi addressed his first press conference as Congress president, after being elected unopposed to the post on Monday, in Ahmedabad on Tuesday, last day of campaigning for the second and final phase of Gujarat Assembly elections. He said the party was confident of winning the polls.
ON MODI AND MANI SHANKAR AIYAR’S STATEMENT
Referring to suspended party leader Mani Shankar Aiyar’s remarks against Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Mr. Gandhi said he had made his position clear. Gandhi said, “I have made my stand clear from day one, in words and in action. Modiji is the Prime Minister of our country. Mani Shankar Aiyar said something and I made it clear that I would not tolerate it. You have seen the action. But what Modiji has been saying about Dr. Manmohan Singh is also not acceptable. As Congress president, my priority will be to strengthen the party and you will see that in Gujarat.”
Mr. Gandhi asserted that he wanted to change the political discourse as it had become “nasty and ugly.” The BJP’s campaign had shifted the focus on its opponents.
ON HIS TEMPLE VISITS
“Why can’t I visit temples?” asked Mr. Gandhi on being asked about his temple visits. “It’s the BJP’s story that I visited temples in Gujarat only. But in fact, I visited Kedarnath temple. Is that in Gujarat? It’s in Uttarakhand.”
He said, “Whenever I went to a temple I just prayed for a golden future for the people of Gujarat, a better development here. Is it wrong to go to a temple? Normally we hold public meetings, but this time we held yatras and in the course of yatras, I visited temples.”
The BJP has alleged that Mr. Gandhi is unaccustomed to visiting temples and that, his doing so in Gujarat is only designed to win Hindu votes in the state.
“If Rahul Gandhi loves temples so much… during UP elections, why didn’t he ever go to Ayodhya, Mathura for darshan (visit),” asked BJP’s, Ravi Shankar Prasad.
ON CONGRESS’S ELECTORAL STRATEGY
Detailing the Congress’ vision for Gujarat, he said that the development of Gujarat had been “one-sided.”
“90% of schools and colleges have been privatized,” he said. “Now, the Prime Minister no longer talks about corruption or minimum support price to farmers. We are confident that we will win the Gujarat polls. We will do balanced development against the BJP’s one-sided development. Irrational economic policies of the BJP government has damaged Gujarat. We will abolish contract labor, fixed pay system in Gujarat. We will never take any decision unilaterally in Gujarat.”
Mr. Gandhi stated that election is “won on narrative. Those who don’t change their narrative win the polls. If you see, the BJP in Gujarat kept changing the narrative but failed.”
The State has realized that the BJP is “hollow,” he said and raised a query about job creation. “What has been done in 22 years in Gujarat? Are there doctors in hospitals in Gujarat? Are there jobs in Gujarat? Small and medium enterprises are job creators but they get no support from the government.”
“There is a massive undercurrent… I am actually a little surprised. I had expected the BJP to fight with more strength,” Mr. Gandhi added, also saying, “Just wait, the Gujarat verdict will be zabardast (stunning).”
He added that “the Congress is fighting the polls as a united force.”
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