Like In Ayodhya, Congress Will Defeat BJP In Gujarat: Rahul Gandhi

Senior Congress leader Rahul Gandhi said here on Saturday that his party will defeat the BJP in Gujarat in the next election the same way it did in Ayodhya in the recent Lok Sabha polls.

The Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha made the remark while addressing a party workers' convention in Ahmedabad.

"They (BJP) have challenged us by threatening us and damaging our office. Let me tell you that we are together going to break their government like they damaged our office. Take it in writing that Congress will contest in Gujarat and defeat Narendra Modi and BJP in Gujarat like we did in Ayodhya," Mr Gandhi said.

Congress will win Gujarat, and make a new start from the state, he said.

He was referring to a clash that broke out between members of both Congress and BJP outside the Rajiv Gandhi Bhavan, Congress's state headquarters, in Paldi area of Ahmedabad on July 2 after BJP's youth wing members came there to protest against Mr Gandhi's remarks on Hindus.

According to police, both sides engaged in stone-pelting, in which five policemen, including an Assistant Commissioner of Police, were injured.

In his speech, the former Congress chief also targeted Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the BJP's defeat from the Faizabad Lok Sabha seat in Uttar Pradesh, where Ayodhya is located.

"People of Ayodhya felt angry when they found that not a single local person was invited for the Ram Mandir's inauguration," he said.

He also claimed that PM Modi wanted to contest from Ayodhya, but his surveyors advised him against doing so saying he will be defeated and his political career will end. 

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)