AAP to contest all seats in 2022 Gujarat assembly polls: Arvind Kejriwal
Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) convener and Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal on Monday announced that his party will contest all 182 seats in the Gujarat state assembly polls scheduled to take place next year.
The announcement came as popular Gujarat journalist Isudan Gadhvi joined the AAP in the presence of Kejriwal and state party chief Gopal Italia. Addressing a press conference in Ahmedabad, Kejriwal announced his party’s candidature for the 2022 state legislative elections. Attacking the BJP and Congress, Kejriwal said that the AAP is a credible alternative to the two national parties in the state.
“Gujarat is suffering because of the alliance between BJP and Congress.BJP led this state for the past 27 years. I have heard people saying that congress is in the pockets of the BJP. Both BJP and Congress are the same and this must stop now,” he told reporters during the briefing.
On being asked about AAP’s campaign strategy for the Gujarat assembly polls, Kejriwal said that the model of development would be decided by the six-crore people of the state.
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“People here (Gujarat) think if electricity can be free in Delhi, why not here? Likewise, for hospitals also, the condition has not improved in 70years here. But things will change now,” he added.
During his one-day visit to the state, Kejriwal also inaugurated AAP’s new state headquarters in Ahmedabad to carry out election campaign operations.
AAP’s footprint in Gujarat. In the 2017 Gujarat assembly elections, the AAP had contested 20 of the 182 seats in the state. Failing miserably inthe polls, the Kejriwal-led party lost on all seats it contested. The party managed to secure only 0.1 percent (29,500) votes of the total ballot, which also resulted in all of its candidates forfeiting their security deposits.
Interestingly, AAP made some inroads in PM Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah’s electoral turf by winning 27 seats in the 120-member Surat Municipal Corporation (SMC). Cutting into Congress party’s share,AAP emerged as the second-largest party in the civic body polls. AAP managed to secure a significant number of seats in other local bodies of the BJP-ruled state, including municipalities, district and taluka panchayats.
Welcoming senior journalist Isudan Gadhvi into AAP, Kejriwal expressed confidence in bringing change for the people of Gujarat. Meanwhile, Gujarat Congress working president Hardik Patel has dismissed reports of him joining the Kejriwal-led party for the 2022 assembly polls as “baseless”.
