On the eve of the first phase of polling in Gujarat, the Congress on Friday exuded confidence that the party under its president-elect Rahul Gandhi will end the supremacy of the Narendra Modi-Amit Shah combine in their very home State.
"The mood is upbeat at the ground level ever since the dramatic win of Ahmed Patel in the Rajya Sabha elections," said a Congress leader adding the party senses a comeback in the State after 22 long years.
The first phase of Gujarat polls on Saturday is likely to be a litmus test for Rahul, who unsettled the BJP through his visits to the temples even as he brought together the young leaders from the OBC, SC and Patidaar communities in the form of Alpesh Thakor, Jignesh Mavani and Hardik Patel.
"Rahul's aggressive campaign and visit to the temples made Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP chief Amit Shah pull up their socks and shed any complacency. It will not be cakewalk for them. If you closely watch the rallies of Modi and Shah, they have talked about more on Rahul, Hinduism and less on development. Hence, Rahul has been successful on this front," the Congress leader said.
Another senior leader maintained that unlike other States where polls were held recently and which had their own regional leaders like Captain Amarinder Singh in Punjab, Akhilesh Yadav in Uttar Pradesh or for that matter Nitish Kumar in Bihar, Gujarat's battle is directly between Modi and Rahul.
"Rahul certainly took an early lead and has come out of the reluctant politician image. Contrary to past campaigns when party chief Sonia Gandhi or Rahul used to campaign briefly and leave relying more on party workers and State leaders, Rahul has extensively toured Gujarat," he said.
He drew a parallel between Rahul's campaign in Gujarat where he mingled with the masses and that of his grandmother Indira Gandhi and father Rajiv Gandhi, both former PMs.
His temple-runs or projecting a soft Hindutva approach gave an opportunity to the Opposition to target Rahul alleging he was shedding his secular image. But Congress strategists term this as party's masterstroke since the development plank took a backseat on the basis of which Modi had garnered votes earlier. Rahul visited about 20 temples in 15 days in Gujarat.
"The need of the hour was Congress had to distance itself from the Muslim-sympathiser image to win over majority communities," said a party leader who is a Rajya Sabha member.
Rahul was equally good on social media and faced the BJP's attack deftly even while cornering the PM and his party with his daily tweets that made news almost every day.
Continuing his attack on the poll eve, Rahul questioned PM about the Rs 55,000 crore meant for tribal welfare. In his 10th question in the series, he targeted Modi on the plight of tribals in the State.
Rahul Gandhi is using the tagline "22 saal ka hisab, Gujarat maange jawab" (Gujarat demands answers for 22 years of BJP rule) for his offensive. He has been using the microblogging website to pose daily questions to the Prime Minister about the performance of the BJP in Gujarat and its promises over the past 22 years of its rule in the State.