“We are absolutely ready for elections,” claimed state party president Siddharth Patel soon after the Election Commission announced the dates for the Lok Sabha elections, on Monday afternoon. The same level of confidence that the chief had exuded, interestingly seems to percolate down to even the party’s rank and file. Conservative estimates in the party claim Congress should be happy if it rakes in six to seven of the 26 seats in the state. However, a major section of workers, buoyed by Rahul Gandhi’s visits, currently feels that getting 13-15 seats too may not be a tall order if the momentum is maintained.

However, the latest buzz in the party circles is that names of the contesting candidates will be announced a month in advance this time, as was recommended by AK Antony in his report last year. This would be a distinct departure from the party’s archaic trend of announcing candidates at the last moment, leaving them with very little time to prepare for the polls.

The elections, however, may be an exception as at least 10 candidates, including Shankersinh Vaghela, Madhusudan Mistry, Soma Patel, Tushar Chaudhary, Bharatsinh Solanki and Dinsha Patel, have already started working in their respective constituencies for the past three months in some of the cases. Conceding that the process is under way, The GPCC president said, “The next meeting will be on March 7, after which we are expecting the list to be released soon.”

The macro issues for campaigning will be the UPA government’s achievements, recession and retrenchment, particularly of the diamond and textile industries, and then the local issues of each constituency. Youth is also going to be major factor — particularly with Rahul Gandhi’s interest in the state. But whether a ‘young’ candidate will actually make it to the hot seat remains to be seen. “A lot of young names under consideration, we are trying our best to have at least one,” Patel added.

‘Rahul’s visit has shaken Modi’

A day after Narendra Modi appointed six parliamentary secretaries, GPCC president Siddharth Patel said the CM was shaken by Rahul Gandhi’s visits to the state and the appointments were an effort to suppress the rebellion brewing within his party. “Rahul’s visit has shaken Modi. The hasty appointment of six parliamentary secretaries shows that he is trying to appease all sections in the party,” Patel said.

Jumana Shah/ DNA-Daily News & Analysis Source: 3D Syndication