Ahead of voting for the 26 Lok Sabha seats in Gujarat scheduled for April 2, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Congress have stepped up their campaign, the former fielding Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the latter party president Rahul Gandhi.

On Thursday, the Prime Minister addressed his fourth rally at Amreli in the State, while the Congress president held two rallies in Junagadh and Bhuj. Earlier on Wednesday, the Prime Minister addressed three rallies in Himatnagar, Surendranagar and Anand.

At Amreli on Thursday, Mr, Modi slammed the Congress party and held that it represented an “anti-Gujarat mindset” and always worked against the interests of the State and its people.

“Why nobody from the party ever thought it appropriate to build a statue of Sardar Patel,” he asked the people in Amreli, a Patidar-dominated constituency where the Congress has fielded its Leader of the Opposition in the Assembly, Paresh Dhanani.

“The people of Gujarat will never forget why the UPA [United Progressive Alliance] regime in Delhi never allowed any major development in Gujarat,” he said.

He exhorted people to again vote for the BJP in all 26 seats to enable the party to form the government at the Centre. He said the National Democratic Alliance government at the Centre cleared the Narmada project, which had been pending for decades during Congress rule.

The Prime Minister will again be coming to cast his vote in Ahmedabad, where he is a registered voter in the Ranip area.

At Vanthali near Junagadh, Congress president Rahul Gandhi talked about NYAY, and called it a “surgical strike” on poverty.

“We have come out with this scheme to ensure that in next five years, there will be no poverty in the country,” Mr. Gandhi said.

“The Modi government believes in waiving loans of his corporate friends, while the Congress party believes in providing help to farmers, tribals, Dalits and other downtrodden communities.”

‘Why low MSP?’

The Congress president talked about agrarian crisis and rural distress in Gujarat, and held the BJP governments at the Centre and the State responsible for farmers’ woes.

“Why the minimum support price have not been raised in Gujarat, why farmers are not getting crop insurance,” he said, asking farmers to vote against the government which has worked against its interests.

On Friday, Mr. Gandhi will hold a rally in the tribal-dominated Bardoli seat where the Congress has fielded former Union Minister Tushar Chaudhry.