Cong’s 'silent campaign’ in crucial poll surprises all

New Delhi: Missing from the big rally stage, Congress’s tactics in election-bound Gujarat have flummoxed all and sundry in the wake of the big programmes and loud announcements of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and other top BJP leaders and AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal. But Congress claims it has a strategy in place, and has focused on localised door to door canvassing to mobilise support.

- Subodh.Ghildiyal

Much is riding on Gujarat elections for Congress which almost ousted BJP from power in Ahmedabad in December 2017, but went silent after the decimation in 2019 Lok Sabha elections. The last three years have been marked by Rahul Gandhi’s absence from the scene after his resignation as Congress president, and the confusion among cadres about the future — a period of total rudderlessness.

Battered by repeated defeats in assembly contests, without a single victory post-2019, Congress will face major questions about its relevance if it again loses Gujarat or ends up being a distant second.