'Gujjubhai' Rahul plans local language debut

Party to position him as a grandson of Gujarat in upcoming election to beard Modi in his den.

His efforts to rejuvenate the Congress in Uttar Pradesh earlier this year came a cropper. But the new general secretary of the Congress party, Rahul Gandhi, is scripting a new gameplan to revive both his party and his leadership claims in Gujarat.

With state assembly elections due by the end of the year, Rahul has made elaborate plans to woo Gujarati voters by addressing them in their own language.

If this works, he will be bearding the lion — Narendra Modi — in his own den.

Modi's USP has been his claim that he represents the interests of five crore Gujaratis.

He has made fun of Sonia Gandhi's Italian origins. By talking in Gujarati, Rahul will be challenging Modi's hold over  Gujarat directly.

Sources in the All India Congress Committee (AICC) headquarters in New Delhi revealed that the scion of the Nehru-Gandhi family has undergone a crash course in Gujarati and is said to have learnt conversational skills as well.

He plans to speak extensively in Gujarati during the election campaign.

Gujarat Congress strongman and one of Sonia Gandhi's closest advisors, Ahmed Patel, is believed to be the brain behind the move to project Rahul Gandhi as the Congress' star campaigner in the coming election.

Though Congress leaders have kept the plan — his bid to speak in Gujarati — under wraps for over three months since Rahul started taking language lessons, close friends and relatives settled in the United Kingdom let the cat out of the bag during a get-together last week.

Sources in the UK confirmed the development and said that it was Ahmed Patel who mooted the idea and hired a trained teacher to tutor Rahul.

The party is also planning a strategy to project young Gandhi as one with family roots in the  land of Sardar Patel.

Rahul's grandfather Feroze Gandhi hailed from the state and spoke fluent Gujarati.

Political observers believe that if Rahul Gandhi manages to strike an emotional rapport with the local populace while speaking in their own language, the Congress party will definitely be able to swing the elections its way in Gujarat.