Amid continued speculation about early Assembly elections in Gujarat, and the possibility of a Bihar-type Mahagatbandhan(Grand Alliance) of non-BJP parties in the western State, Congress Vice-President Rahul Gandhi will on May 1 make a bid to reclaim his party’s support base among the State’s tribals.

May 1 is also Gujarat’s Foundation Day.

The Gujarat Congress had organised a month-long drive to educate tribals about their rights.

“To mark conclusion of this campaign, Rahul Gandhi will address a tribals’ rally at Dediapada in Narmada District of South Gujarat,” Gujarat Pradesh Congress Committee spokesman Manish Doshi told BusinessLine on Monday.

The Congress is a constituent of Bihar’s ruling Mahagatbandhan, which also comprises the RJD and the JD(U). In 2015, the anti-BJP alliance rode to power under the leadership of Chief Minister Nitish Kumar. In Uttar Pradesh, the Congress had teamed up with the Akhilesh Yadav-led Samajwadi Party, which, however, did not yield good results.

Reducing BJP’s tally Some Gujarat Congress leaders believe that a similar alliance in the State could at least reduce the tally of the ruling BJP, which appears comfortably ensconced in its saffron fortress ahead of polls later this year. BJP President Amit Shah had, at a meeting of the party’s State executive last week, given a call to ‘completely uproot’ the Congress from Gujarat, and win 150-plus seats in elections to the 182-member Assembly.

The election scene in Gujarat has begun warming up with the NCP and JD(U) going in for a poll hug, urging the Congress to join in as well. Even GPCC chief Bharatsinh Solanki has maintained that his party was ready for an electoral tie-up with “like-minded” parties.

Though both Sharad Pawar’s NCP and Nitish Kumar’s JD(U) do not count for much in Gujarat, the Gujarat Assembly polls could well become a precursor to a grand national alliance that would take on the BJP nationally, in the Lok Sabha polls of 2019.

In time for Prez polls Such an alliance of non-BJP parties in Gujarat could also give a fillip to Opposition unity ahead of presidential polls in the next few months.

In the 182-member Gujarat Assembly the Congress has 57 seats, the NCP two and the JD(U) only one; the BJP accounts for the remainder seats. The NCP wields some influence in the Charotar belt of Central Gujarat while JD(U) has a following in some tribal areas.

However, NCP had a bitter experience of aligning with the Congress in 2012. Its leader Praful Patel pointed out that despite the Congress allotting nine Assembly seats to the NCP, the main Opposition party’s candidates had filed nominations in all of these.

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