After leading the party from the front to put up a tough fight in the recently concluded Gujarat assembly elections, Congress president Rahul Gandhi will visit the state on December 23.
According to party's official communication, Gandhi will meet leaders from various regions of the state and later the party workers at the Gujarat University Convention Hall in Ahmedabad.
He would begin the meet with leaders from north Gujarat, followed by leaders from central Gujarat and south Gujarat. Lastly, he would meet party workers before leaving for New Delhi in the evening.
Gandhi is expected to get feedback of the election campaign and the results from the leaders and cadres.
In the 182-member assembly, the Congress won 77 seats, the party's highest since 1985 when it bagged 149 seats under Madhavsinh Solanki.
The BJP had set a target of 150+ seats but thanks to the rejuvenated Congress, rise of three young leaders—Hardik Patel, Jignesh Mevani and Alpesh Thakore—, problems in implementation of GST and demonetisation, the BJP's tally could not cross two digits and stood at 99 seats, 16 less than 2012 number.
A senior party leader said that Gandhi is expected to also speak on the Congress' role as strong opposition, especially keeping in mind 2019 Lok Sabha elections.
On Wednesday, a three-day meeting of the Congress began in Mehsana, North Gujarat, to assess the assembly results. Gujarat in-charge of the party Ashok Ghelot, state party president Bharatsinh Solanki and other leaders are meeting party leaders and workers to get a detailed feedback.
Party workers are also giving feedback about the Congress' alliances in the poll and how it benefitted or damaged the party. There are at least 16 seats on which the Congress has lost by a margin of less than 3,000 votes.
Given the performance of the Congress, they will also be asked to start preparing for Lok Sabha elections.
However, the next major thing coming up are the Rajya Sabha elections. Term of four BJP leaders—Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, Union minister of state for agriculture Parshottam Rupala, Union minister of state for roads and highways and chemicals and fertilisers Mansukh Mandaviya and Shankar Vegad—ends in March 2018.
Now with the BJP's tally down to 99, the saffron party has strength for only two members in the Upper House. This would mean that the Congress can field two candidates.
Sources said that in all likelyhood, the party may reward Solanki and AICC spokesperson Shaktisinh Gohil. Gohil, who lost the election by over 9,000 votes had changed his constituency from Abdasa to Mandvi. He had played an important role during Rajya Sabha election earlier this year and was instrumental in raising in technical point based on which the Election Commission had rejected two votes, paving the way for Ahmed Patel's victory.
