NE NEWS SERVICE
AHMEDABAD, JUNE 14
The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) will contest all seats in Gujarat in the 2022 Assembly polls, the party’s national convener and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said here on Monday as he visited a Vaishnavite temple in the city and blamed the ruling BJP and opposition Congress for the “plight” of people but avoided a direct attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah on their home turf.
आम आदमी पार्टी गुजरात विधानसभा चुनाव-2022 में सभी सीटों पर चुनाव लड़ेगी!
अब बदलेगा गुजरात! #હવે_બદલાશે_ગુજરાત pic.twitter.com/fF6Mf6KZVX
— AAP (@AamAadmiParty) June 14, 2021
During the press conference, he also welcomed popular Gujarati journalist Isudan Gadhvi to the Aam Aadmi Party. AAP Delhi MLA Gulab Singh, who is also the AAP’s Gujarat in-charge, Gopal Italia, state president of AAP Gujarat, and Manoj Bhai Sarothiya, State General Secretary of Gujarat, also welcomedIsudan along with CM Kejriwal.
Inspired by CM Kejriwal's 'Honest Governance' , Popular Gujarati journalist Isudan Gadhvi joined AAP.
"Gujarat needed an Honest Alternative for a long time. AAP is that alternative.
Its time to clean the system from the inside.” – @isudan_gadhvi#હવે_બદલાશે_ગુજરાત pic.twitter.com/hRgby4xGVG
— AAP (@AamAadmiParty) June 14, 2021
Addressing a press conference on the campus of the Vallabh Sadan temple after taking darshan of the deity, Kejriwal, who was on a one-day visit to the city, said his party was a credible alternative to the BJP and the Congress in Gujarat who he said had a tacit alliance between them.
“The AAP will contest each and every seat in the 2022 Gujarat Assembly elections. The AAP is a credible alternative to the BJP and Congress. Gujarat will change soon,” he said. The Gujarat House has 182 seats. “Gujarat is suffering because of this friendship and alliance between the BJP and the Congress. The BJP ruled this state for the last 27 years. I heard people saying that Congress is in the pocket of the BJP. Both the BJP and Congress are the same. This must stop,” he said.
Kejriwal said the Congress and the BJP have been in power for most of the period after Independence but “people are witness to what they have done. Farmers are committing suicide even after 75 years”.
Blaming the BJP and the Congress for the “current situation” of Gujarat, Kejriwal said the common people were left to fend for themselves during the coronavirus pandemic. Irrespective of tall claims, farmers in Gujarat are committing suicide, government-run schools and hospitals are in shambles and traders are living under fear, he alleged. “People want to know why the electricity costs are so high in Gujarat when it’s free in Delhi? If government-run schools and hospitals are top-class in Delhi then why are they in a bad shape here? Now, the time has come to change Gujarat,” the AAP leader said.
Isudan entering politics to work for the people of Gujarat: AK
Kejriwal said, “In such a situation, the decision that Isudan Gadhvi Ji has taken of coming into politics, I congratulate Isudan Ji from the bottom of my heart. What was his need? When someone’s career comes to an end, when there is no one to ask for you, then if someone enters into politics, it is understandable. But if someone enters politics at the peak of their career, that person is surely entering into it to work for the people of Gujarat. Since the past few years, Isudan ji through his TV Channel and his program had become the voice of the common Gujaratis. He used to raise people’s voices, and people used to relate to him. Today, every person of Gujarat relates to Isudan ji. People think he is raising their voices, but raising his voice by staying out of the system has its limits. We can criticize, create noise, protest, raise our voices on TV, debate and show it on the news by staying outside the system. But when the parties form an alliance and say “do whatever you want to, we do not care, we know the results of the election that we are to win”, what is one supposed to do ?”
When asked if he was proposing to implement the “Delhi model” in Gujarat, Kejriwal said the model of development will be decided by the six crore people of Gujarat. Queried about his strategy to take on PM Modi and Amit Shah on their home turf of Gujarat, Kejriwal said the AAP will fight for the people of Gujarat and bring a change “instead of fighting against any party or an individual
Aiming to project the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) as an effective ‘alternative’ to the ruling BJP and the opposition Congress in Gujarat in the 2022 Assembly elections, Kejriwal on Monday inaugurated his party’s Gujarat state office in Ahmedabad.
The new state headquarters of the AAP is located on Ashram Road. Till now, the AAP was functioning from a rented office located in a commercial complex in the Navrangpura area of the city.
Before leaving for Delhi after his one-day visit to Ahmedabad, Kejriwal, also the national convener of the AAP, held a meeting with his party’s key leaders from Gujarat at the circuit house, the AAP said in a statement.
