The Congress is yet to identify its nominee against chief minister Narendra Modi in the upcoming Gujarat Assembly polls at a time when its campaign committee chief Shankarsinh Vaghela is confident of winning over 212 seats.
Asked whether the party has identified a candidate against Mr Modi or whether he would fight the election against the Gujarat chief minister, Mr Vaghela on Friday said: “Tay nahi hua (not yet decided)”.
In the last state Assembly polls, the Congress had fielded Union minister Dinsha Patel.
If Congress insiders are to be believed, Mr Vaghela is unlikely to fight the election if he is not projected as the chief ministerial candidate.
The party had projected Capt. Amarinder Singh and Tarun Gogoi as CM candidates in Punjab and Assam.
Mr Vaghela wanted that the Antony Committee report should be implemented by announcing the party candidates at least six months before the election.
The Gujarat Assembly polls would be held either in November or December this year.
The state Congress leaders do not see anti-incumbency against the Modi government despite division in the Sangh Parivar and the BJP. Even the Patel factor would not work despite dissension among the Patel community against the authoritative style of Mr Modi, they feel.
“Keshubhai Patel is mounting pressure on the BJP high command that at least 30 to 35 winning seats should be given to his loyalists. This will help him in the post-poll situation because Narendra Modi will come to Centre after that,” they said.
The Congress had earlier played the backward card, the Patel card, and had even relied on the BJP dissidents to defeat Mr Modi in the last two election but did not succeed due to lack of a charismatic leader and weak organisation.
“Y.S. Rajasekhar Reddy had brought the Congress back to power in Andhra Pradesh by defeating the ruling TDP through his sangharsh yatra. The TDP had ruled Andhra for over 10 years. But do you see any sangharsh (fight) in Gujarat in the last 15 years?” they asked.