New Delhi: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Monday (October 31, 2022) dismissed the challenge posed by Arvind Kejriwal-led Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in the upcoming Gujarat Assembly elections and said that it is "only in the air" with no support on the ground. Addressing a press conference in Telangana's Kothur during his 'Bharat Jodo Yatra', Gandhi said that the media has created a buzz based on the advertisements given by AAP. The former Congress chief said that his party has a "solid base" in Gujarat and that it will win the upcoming assembly polls, contending that there is "massive" anti-incumbency against the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
"Congress is fighting the Gujarat elections effectively and the Congress will win the elections. AAP is only in the air. It has nothing on the ground," Rahul Gandhi told reporters on his party's prospects in Prime Minister Narendra Modi's poll-bound home state.
"There is massive anti-incumbency. The media has created a buzz based on the advertisements given by AAP. The Congress party is a solid party in Gujarat. The Congress is going to win the election there," he said.
Many political observers feel that the grand old party is on a weak footing this time and with the AAP being a contender this time, it would be a triangular contest that could dent the Congress' chances.
Earlier in the 2017 Gujarat assembly polls, the Congress had put up a spirited fight and bagged 77 seats to the BJP's 99. There, however, have been several defections from the Congress post-2017 and their current tally in the assembly stands at 62, while the BJP's tally has risen to 111.
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On when and where he will campaign in the poll-bound states of Himachal Pradesh and Gujarat, Gandhi said, "Kharge Ji is the president of the party and he will decide how I am to be utilised."
In an apparent attack on BJP, Rahul Gandhi said that the fight in India today is between two ideologies -- one that is seeking to divide the nation and the other that wants to bring the nation together.
Referring to the recently-concluded Congress presidential polls, in which Mallikarjun Kharge beat Shashi Tharoor to take charge as the new party president, Gandhi said that the Congress has demonstrated that it is a democratic party by electing its president.
