Rahul Gandhi recently threw an open challenge to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) He claimed that the Congress would defeat the BJP in the 2027 assembly elections in the state. However, he highlighted several challenges the party faces in accomplishing his ‘Mission Gujarat’ The Congress was routed here in 2022, winning just 17 seats (60 less than in 2017) with a 27% vote share (a drop of 15 percentage points) In contrast, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), which was just making its electoral debut in Gujarat, ended up bagging an impressive 13% votes. This also resulted in a record mandate for the BJP, which got 156 seats with a 53 per cent vote share. The Congress had consistently enjoyed a strong vote share of 38% to 42% between the 2002 and 2017 elections. But internal sabotage and its inability to present an alternative vision gave way to the opposition AAP to claim some space in theState. The old guard will need to make space for new leaders who can take on the BJP on the ground.