Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Friday began his two-day Gujarat visit with a focus on 2027 assembly polls, where he gave indications of a major overhaul in the party`s state unit and assured to implement a strong plan to defeat the BJP.
Gandhi arrived in Ahmedabad in the morning and held meetings with party leaders throughout the day.
After his arrival at the airport here, the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha headed straight to Gujarat Congress headquarters in Paldi area of the city.
He first met senior party leaders, including former state Congress presidents and former leaders of opposition (LoPs) in the assembly, the party said in a statement.
Later in the day, he attended a meeting with members of the state political affairs committee.
In a statement on Thursday, the Congress said Gandhi had earlier asserted that the party would win the 2027 Gujarat assembly elections and he would be visiting the state to start the work for the polls.
Gujarat, the home state of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, has been under BJP`s rule since 1995.
In the evening, Gandhi held a meeting with district and city presidents of the Congress. Thereafter, he interacted with nearly 400 taluka and municipality chiefs of the party.
Talking to reporters in the evening, All India Congress Committee (AICC) general secretary K C Venugopal said Gandhi took opinions of ground-level party workers on what changes were required to strengthen the party organisation.
“This meeting was aimed at strengthening the party and its organisation in Gujarat. Rahul Gandhi gave his entire time to listen to party leaders from block, district and state level. Our concentration is to strengthen party organisation, and that is why we are taking views of local leaders,” Venugopal said after the meetings.
In a release, the Gujarat Congress said that during his meetings, Gandhi asked the state unit to raise issues concerning local people.
He assured the local cadres to bring about major changes in the organisation and responsibility as well as accountability of new office-bearers will also be fixed, it said.
Gandhi asked party leaders to raise issues, including those related to unemployment, inflation, women`s security and plight of farmers in Gujarat.
In his dialogue with the district presidents, special emphasis was laid to strengthen the organisational structure up to the booth-level, the release said, adding that Gandhi also urged cadres to start their preparations for the upcoming assembly polls.
Gandhi assured the local leaders that the party is going to implement a “strong plan” to defeat BJP in Gujarat, he said.
Gandhi will address party workers in Ahmedabad on Saturday and leave for Delhi that afternoon.
The upcoming AICC session is scheduled to be held in Ahmedabad on April 8-9. It will be held in the state after 64 years.
In the 2022 Gujarat assembly elections, the Congress won only 17 of the 182 seats in the state. But the party`s strength in the House came down to 12 after the resignation of five MLAs.
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