Gujarat Assembly polls: Rahul Gandhi to hold rallies in Rajkot, Surat today

Rajkot (Gujarat) [India], November 21 (ANI): As Gujarat Assembly elections are around the corner, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Monday will hold his maiden rally in the poll-bound state today.
Rahul Gandhi who is leading Congress' Bharat Jodo Yatra, will address rallies in poll-bound Gujarat for the first time since elections were announced in the coastal state.
Rahul Gandhi has been absent from Gujarat and he has not campaigned in the state so far in this election.
The former Congress president, who had refrained from campaigning in Himachal Pradesh, will be addressing two public rallies in Rajkot and Surat for the first time.
He will address the first rally at 1 pm in Panch Kakada, near Anaval Village, Mahuwa town in Surat district and the other rally at 3 pm at Shastri Maidan in Rajkot on Monday.
This will also be going to be the first political engagement since the Bharat Jodo Yatra began on September 7.
Notably, he was last seen in Gujarat on September 5, where he addressed the party workers in Ahmedabad, two days before moving on to lead the Yatra which began from Kanyakumari in Tamil Nadu and will enter Madhya Pradesh as it wrapped up the Maharashtra leg today.
Reportedly, the Bharat Jodo Yatra be on a break on Monday as Rahul Gandhi will address rallies.
Speaking about the scheduled public rally in the state, the Congress MP KC Venugopal said, "He (Rahul Gandhi) will visit Gujarat on Nov 21. He will go to Rajkot and Surat to hold public rallies".
Earlier, the Gujarat public rally of Rahul Gandhi was confirmed by the Rajasthan Congress chief Govind Singh Dotasra during a press meeting on November 9.
"During the yatra, Rahul Gandhi will also take part in the party's campaign for Gujarat assembly polls", asserted Dotasra during the presser.
The Elections for the 182-member State Assembly will be held in two phases on December 1 and 5. The counting of votes will be taken up on December 8.
In Gujarat, the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has been in power for over 27 years and is seeking its seventh term in office.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been Gujarat's longest-serving chief minister from 2001 till 2014.
The state has been a BJP stronghold for a long period and the party has set its sight on returning to power with a handsome majority this time as well.
However, it faces a stiff electoral challenge from the Arvind Kejriwal-led Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), which has named Isudan Gadhvi as its chief ministerial candidate.
Congress also hopes to put its best electoral foot forward to unseat the BJP government.
In the 2017 Gujarat polls, despite a decrease in the number of seats, the incumbent BJP retained its simple majority in the house and formed government for the sixth time.
In the results declared for all the 182-seated Gujarat Assembly, BJP won 99 seats, Congress wins 77, 1 seat was won by NCP while Bhartiya Tribal Party and Independent candidate won 2 and 3 seats respectively. (ANI)