Gujarat elections: Rahul Gandhi to begin 2-day poll campaign from Today

Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi will be on a two-day campaign tour of Gujarat from Friday, during which he will accept a giant tricolour made by the Dalit community.

The national flag was meant to be presented to Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani a few months ago but officials in the state capital had reportedly refused to accept it citing lack of space.

Gandhi will visit Gujarat to lead his party's election campaign ahead of the first phase of polling for 89 seats next month.

The highlight of his two-day tour is the visit to the Dalit Shakti Kendra (DSK), a vocational training institute run by Dalit activists, near Sanand town of this district tomorrow.

"During his visit, Rahulji will accept a giant national flag, measuring 125 feet in length and 83 feet in height, from Dalit students of the Kendra. He will also address locals and Dalits of surrounding areas at the centre," Gujarat Congress spokesperson Manish Doshi said.

"This is the largest national flag ever made. Though it was meant to be presented to Gujarat CM Vijay Rupani, he had refused to accept it when Dalits went to Gandhinagar in August. When Rahulji learned about it, he conveyed his desire to accept the flag with full honour," Doshi added.

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Gujarat CM links IS suspect to Ahmed Patel; Cong leader rubbishes charge

Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani on Friday night demanded resignation of Congress veteran Ahmed Patel from the Rajya Sabha alleging his possible links to a suspected terrorist arrested earlier in the week from his home district of Bharuch. Ahmed Patel rubbished the charge.

Rupani, who also sought Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi's clarification on the matter, was referring to Mohammed Qasim Stimberwala, one of the two alleged IS operatives arrested by the Gujarat Anti-Terrorist Squad from Surat on Wednesday.

Stimberwala had resigned recently as an eco-cardiogram technician in the Sardar Patel Hospital and Heart Institute in Ankleshwar, which Patel had helped grow into a modern facility.

Patel was one of the trustees during the hospital's formative years as a modern hospital and the only one in the entire Bharuch district with latest equipment and technology with facilities for heart surgery. He had resigned as a trustee in 2014 facilitating a new board of trustees to take over the facility.

The ATS, which picked up Stimberwala and Ubed Ahmed Mirza, claimed that they were planning to attack a Jewish synagogue in Khadia area of Ahmedabad and had even carried out reconnaissance of their target.
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