For Gujarat Congress, the upcoming Assembly polls will be anything but a faceoff between Narendra Modi and Rahul Gandhi. Even as its own house crumbles in Gujarat, the Congress launched a caustic attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Gujarat chief minister Vijay Rupani ahead of elections, but maintains the polls are going to be fought on 'local issues'.

As the BJP plays up its poll campaign harping on Modi's governance and with national party president Amit Shah at the centre of the electioneering, a hapless Congress maintains the polls should be about local issues only.

"CM Rupani and state BJP chief Jitubhai Vaghani are such weak personalities and feel so intimidated here by the Congress that instead of taking us on directly, they are bringing in Modi and Amit Shah to rescue them. But the Congress will fight only on local issues and it will be me versus Vaghani. We will not contest this election pitting our national leaders with theirs," state Congress president Bharatsinh Solanki told Mail Today.

With several Congress MLAs shifting to BJP, the party is relying on its campaign and not so much on its candidates any longer. "There is strong anti-incumbency; corruption is on the rise; farmers, women and traders are disillusioned. This state needs change," Solanki added. "While the judgment on triple talaq is a progressive move by the Supreme Court, there is no electoral impact on the minority. Modi is giving so much advice to others, but why doesn't he talk about his own wife and his educational qualification degree?"

Grappling with internal turmoil and facing crisis with respect to pre-poll alliances, the party is preparing to disqualify and take legal action against the 14 MLAs who left the party for BJP. "We will take legal recourse against the 14 MLAs who left the party for BJP and make sure that they are disqualified from contesting elections for six years. According to our reports, these MLAs are meeting much resentment from voters, who feel cheated because they had voted for them on Congress tickets," Solanki added.

Solanki claimed that while JD(U) MLA Chhotubhai Vasava, who is close to rebel JD(U) leader Sharad Yadav continues to stand by the Congress, an alliance with the NCP is off the table. "Since NCP MLAs did not vote for us in the Rajya Sabha polls and have not reached out to us, any alliance with it is unlikely. As for the JD(U), the Sharad Yadav faction backs us strongly," he said.

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