Anand, Gujarat: In a sharp political pitch from Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s home turf, Congress MP and Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Shri Rahul Gandhi on July 26, 2025, called the Election Commission of India (ECI) a “biased umpire”. He stressed that defeating the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in its base in Gujarat, which is also Union Home Minister Amit Shah’s stronghold, was critical for the Party’s national resurgence.

Addressing newly appointed District Congress Committee (DCC) Presidents at a training camp, Shri Rahul Gandhi said that the Congress must shift its focus from just Uttar Pradesh or Bihar to Gujarat if it aims to defeat the BJP across the country.

The Party has organised the training camp ‘Sangathan Sujan Abhiyan’ for the newly-appointed Presidents of District Congress Committees at a resort near Anand city in view of the 2027 state assembly elections. It follows the appointment of new DCC Chiefs across the State and will conclude on July 28.

Shri Rahul Gandhi emphasized it was very important to defeat the BJP in its main base of Gujarat. He told us the Party used to believe that we must work hard (to defeat the BJP) in Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and some other states. He said that if we can defeat the BJP in Gujarat, then the Party can be defeated everywhere.

In a cricketing analogy, Shri Rahul Gandhi also accused the Election Commission of playing unfairly. “In cricket, if you keep getting out, you start doubting yourself. But then you realize, it’s the umpire who is biased,” Shri Rahul Gandhi blamed the EC’s “dubious voters’ list” for the Party’s defeat in the 2017 Gujarat election.

Newly appointed Gujarat Pradesh Congress President Shri Amit Chavda said that Shri Rahul Gandhi had assured the cadre that the Party leadership stood firmly with them. “He guided the district Presidents and assured them that their inputs would be considered during candidate selection,” he said.

Earlier during the day, the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha also met and interacted with the cooperative milk producers and the leaders of the cooperative community in Jitodia of Anand district of Gujarat. “We are fully committed towards empowering the indigenous producers by raising their voice and extending all support and cooperation they need,” he assured the milk producers.

He also met with the families who lost their loved ones in the collapse of the Mujpur-Gambhira bridge in Vadodara district earlier this month. The accident claimed 20 lives, and left four injured, while one person remains missing.

AICC General Secretary In-Charge of Gujarat Shri Mukul Wasnik, Gujarat Pradesh Congress President Shri Amit Chavda, CLP leader Dr Tushar Chaudhary and a number of state Congress leaders were also present on the occasion.