PM, Arvind Kejriwal, Rahul Gandhi On Gujarat Campaign Trail On Monday

Gujarat will witness a high-voltage, star-studded campaign on Monday, days ahead of the crucial assembly elections in which the BJP is seeking its seventh straight term. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Congress's Rahul Gandhi and Aam Aadmi Party chief Arvind Kejriwal will crisscross the state to hold political rallies for the polls that begin on December 1.  

PM Modi is on a three-day election tour and addressed a rally in Valsad district this evening. Four rallies are scheduled for Sunday in the districts of Bhavnagar, Amreli and Junagadh, reported news agency Press Trust of India, quoting party sources.

This is the Prime Minister's second visit to his home state after the assembly poll schedule was announced. On November 6, he addressed a rally at Kaprada in Valsad district.  

Mr Kejriwal, whose party has pitched itself as the main opposition in Gujarat, will be in the state till November 22.  

Rahul Gandhi, who has been at the receiving end of much criticism for leaving out the poll-bound state from his Bharat Jodo Yatra, will also be on a day's tour in Gujarat. Sunday is rest day for the massive 3,750-km foot march from Kanyakumari to Kashmir which started on September 7.  

Mr Gandhi will address two public rallies in Rajkot and Mahuva in Surat.

Gaurab Pandhi, the national spokesperson of the Congress, said Mr Gandhi was not able to visit Gujarat till now because of the Yatra, which he is leading.  

"However, as the Yatra is now entering the neighbouring Madhya Pradesh, he will be able to visit Gujarat and address a few rallies on the 21st, which is supposed to be a break day for the Yatra".

"Rahul Gandhi enjoys immense popularity among the people of Gujarat and we have all seen it in the past and as recently as in the rally which he addressed just before the Bharat Jodo Yatra was launched," he said, referring to a rally for booth-level workers in Ahmedabad, which Mr Gandhi had addressed on September 5.

"The people of Gujarat are looking forward to welcoming Rahul Gandhi and hear a leader who is far away from the usual rhetoric and lies peddled by our opponents till now," he added.

Elections will be held in Gujarat in two phases – on December 1 and December 5. The counting of votes will take place on December 8.

In 2017, the Congress had put up a strong challenge to the BJP, which has been ruling the state since 1995. It won 77 of the state's 182 seats. But the BJP outstripped it by over 20 seats, winning 99 after a roller-coaster counting day.

This time, Mr Kejriwal's AAP has managed to occupy the political limelight with a high-voltage  campaign that focused on the urban poor and the middle-classes and promised to replicate its work in Delhi and Punjab in the state.  

Mr Kejriwal has been claiming that his party is in direct contest with the BJP and has repeatedly urged people not to "waste their votes" on the Congress.