Even as the Gujarat Pradesh Congress Committee (GPCC) has tasked all the district presidents to identify local issues and prepare a regional campaign plan for the Gujarat elections, the Mahisagar district in central Gujarat is already on the job.
This was also conveyed to the State unit leaders during a separate meeting on Gujarat on the sidelines of the Central Working Committee, which asked the State office-bearers to ensure this distribution of work.
Already on the job without waiting for the State or central leadership to ask him, Mahisagar District Congress President Sureshbhai Ambalal Patel told VO!, “Ours is an agricultural district with paddy, maize, wheat, as key crops. The majority of our farmers are small and marginal farmers with land holding less than two hectares. Farmers here are now in distress due to the collapsing farm prices, while irrigation is affected by drought and absence of modern technology”.
”We have now identified the static and dynamic issues farmers are facing for years under the BJP regime. With the guidance from State president Jagdish Thakor and the AICC Secretary in charge of Gujarat, we are working on solutions for the farmer’s problem and would incorporate it in the Congress manifesto for the upcoming Assembly elections,” Patel said.
Disclosing the plans, AICC Secretary BM Sandeep told Vibes of India (VO!) that the “Congress party would issue constituency-wise and district-wise charge-sheets to highlight the failures of the BJP government in the state. For this purpose, we are holding block-wise meetings and discussions in all districts to address the challenges faced by people”.
Mahisagar is one among the eight districts in the Central Gujarat region where the BJP has a stronghold with 25 seats and Congress with 13 seats out of 40. “We have already had block-wise meetings in Virpur, Balasinor, Khanpur and Kadana where we interacted with the farmers, tribals and people from Scheduled Caste communities,” Suresh Patel told VO!
BM Sandeep added that all the eight district presidents of Central Gujarat are working hand-in-hand to inform people of the public policy failures of the government at the cost of their lives.
“Also the common people are suffering because of the overuse of chemical fertilizers and industrial waste that had polluted the groundwater of Central Gujarat. This negatively affects the livelihood of people”, Patel asserted.
When asked, Patel said the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) had a negligible presence in the region and it could not connect with the grassroots level issues of the people. “It is the BJP, which is a challenge and this time we will defeat BJP as people are frustrated with the rise in prices of essential commodities and unable to live a happy life,” he added.
