(FE)
The Gujarat Congress launched its door-to-door election campaign Tuesday, choosing Naranpura of Ahmedabad, the same constituency where BJP president Amit Shah had launched the Gujarat unit’s door-to-door campaign a week ago. Naranpura is a bastion not only of the BJP but also of Shah, who had won from here in 2012 before moving on to Rajya Sabha. It is from Naranpura where Shah had begun his career, as a booth-level party worker under the guidance of Narendra Modi.
State Congress president Bharatsinh Solanki and the party’s Gujarat affairs-in-charge Ashok Gehlot, former Rajasthan chief minister jointly launched the Congress campaign. As Gehlot and Solanki split into two teams and went from door to door, not many people seen coming outdoors to greet the campaigners, Congress workers then brought a portable speaker that Solanki used at some places to draw people’s attention.
On November 7, Shah had received huge receptions during the BJP campaign. When The Indian Express asked a Congress worker accompanying Solanki about the difference in response, the worker laughed. “It is enough that our campaign has been launched from here and the party president has come. All of us know it is a BJP bastion.”
