Congress leader Rahul Gandhi claimed on Sunday that his party will defeat the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Gujarat in the next election the same way it did in Ayodhya in the recent Lok Sabha polls. He made the remark while addressing a party worker convention in Ahmedabad. 

मैं आपसे कहने आया हूं। इन्होंने हमारे ऑफिस पर हमला किया है, हमें डरना नहीं है।

इन्होंने हमें challenge दिया है। challenge ये है कि हमें मिलकर BJP को गुजरात में हराना है।

अब कांग्रेस पार्टी नरेंद्र मोदी और BJP को गुजरात में हराएगी।

: नेता विपक्ष श्री @RahulGandhi

📍अहमदाबाद,… pic.twitter.com/nUe4pBAnFW

— Congress (@INCIndia) July 6, 2024

"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," Gandhi said.

Congress will win Gujarat, and from the state it will make a new start, Rahul said, as quoted by news agency PTI. 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 the Paldi area of Ahmedabad, on July 2 after the BJP's youth wing members came there to protest against 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.

The 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 would be defeated and his political career would end. 

(With input from agencies)