With Gujarat’s Assembly elections barely four months away, high profile leaders have been on a visiting spree to the state. While BJP’s Amit Shah and AAP’s Arvind Kejriwal have been dropping in and out, the grand old party has chosen veteran leader and chief minister of adjoining Rajasthan, Ashok Gehlot, to take stock of ground realities.
Gehlot, recently appointed as senior observer for Gujarat by the Congress high command, will be visiting the state for three days, starting August 16. Sources claim he will land in Surat on the first day and then proceed to Rajkot. The following day, he is expected to meet party leaders in Baroda and Ahmedabad.
“We were told about a south Gujarat zonal meeting in Surat. Since Gehlotji will arrive only in the morning, the convention has been scheduled for 4 pm. Then, he will also preside over the Saurashtra zone meeting in Rajkot. On August 17, he will meet Congress leaders from the central and northern zones. Finally, it will be a brain-storming session with election monitors and regional chieftains on August 18,” shared a party insider.
Gehlot will stay in Vadodara for the first night. On August 17, after meeting central Gujarat’s leaders in Vadodara, he will head to Ahmedabad to meet party representatives from north Gujarat, mainly Mehsana. He will stay in Ahmedabad at night.
On August 18, Gehlot will address a press conference in the morning. Later, he will meet Congress leaders and discuss the manifesto and by evening he will leave for Jaipur. The travel to all places will be by chartered flight.
The party senior will also green flag the digital campaign for the Assembly elections. Congress has prepared its initial list of candidates. Gehlot is expected to provide the applicants with relevant guidelines in this regard. So far, a total of 58 names have made it to the list. “A contender for the seat that Congress has been losing for the past three terms will be announced soon,” added the source.
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