The Congress has decided not to project its chief ministerial candidate in the December Gujarat Assembly polls after realising that the 'ambitious' chief minister Narendra Modi is facing problems within the Sangh Parivar and D-4 (Delhi-based top four BJP leaders).
For Mr Modi, this is going to be his last Assembly election as chief minister as he has become impatient to come to New Delhi before the Lok Sabha elections.
The Congress is watching developments within the BJP, the Sangh Parivar and Mr Modi who had tried unsuccessfully to become 'secular' through his Sadbhavana Mission.
Mr Modi had fought the last two Gujarat Assembly elections on international and national issues as part of his image-building exercise, his political critics pointed out.
They said he had won elections because of divisive strategy and not on positive or developmental agenda.
Former chief minister and newly-formed Gujarat Parivartan Party (GPP) president Keshubhai Patel on Wednesday accused Mr Modi of misleading people with wrong figures, saying the people of Gujarat want parivartan (change) after years of 'misrule', according to an agency report from Ahmedabad.
He said his GPP was ready to contest the elections from all the 182 Assembly constituencies. Mr Patel said, “Even after organising Garib Kalyan Melas, the poor are suffering and are not happy. I have gauged the mood of the people and can assure you that in these elections, people will come out and vote overlooking the caste, community and religion factor.”
Mr Patel has decided to contest the Assembly elections from Visavadar in Junagadh district.
In New Delhi, the Congress on Wednesday made it clear that it will not project any chief ministerial candidate in the Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh Assembly elections.
Party spokesman P.C. Chacko replied in the negative when asked at the AICC briefing if the party would project any CM candidate in the polls.
Generally, the Congress refrains from naming a chief ministerial candidate in any state maintaining that the newly-elected party MLAs in consultation with the high command would decide the issue.
The last time Congress named a CM candidate was Capt. Amarinder Singh in Punjab in January this year, but the move did not succeed.
Mr Chacko also dismissed suggestions that the electoral battle in Gujarat was a Narendra Modi vs Sonia Gandhi affair. He said that such attempts by Modi are 'going to boomerang'.
He said that the Congress was ready for elections and was 'quite confident' about the outcome in the two states.
“Wild allegations is the brand of Modi’s politics,” he said when asked about the latest attack by the Gujarat CM.