IN SURAT, ARVIND KEJRIWAL HAILS AAP’S POLL PERFORMANCE

AHMEDABAD: Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) chief and Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal arrived in Surat to a victor’s welcome on Friday, with hundreds cheering him on as he took out a road show to thank the people of the diamond city for electing his party as the chief opposition party in the Surat Municipal Corporation (SMC).

In the recently concluded civic body polls, the AAP won 27 of 120 seats in the Surat Municipal Corporation in its debut appearance, thereby emerging the main opposition party against the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which won 93 seats. The Congress and other parties could not open their account in the municipality.

Amid allegations by some AAP winners that the BJP was trying to make them defect, Kejriwal cautioned his party workers and said, “The BJP will try to poach you by pressure or by luring you. But stay united and inform the party if you receive such a call from the BJP.”

Kejriwal, whose party had scored a zero in the state in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, was visiting Gujarat for the first time in seven years.

He had stayed away even during the campaigning for the local body polls, and deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia had managed the party’s campaign.

Addressing a massive gathering in Surat on Friday, Kejriwal said, “Aapko Surat ki janta ney vipaksh ka kaam diya hai, unki (ruling BJP) naani yaad dila dena, ek bhi galat kaam mat hone dena (People of Surat have chosen you as the opposition party, don’t allow any corruption in the civic body).”