‘KICK ME OUT IF...’: AAP CHIEF KEJRIWAL VOWS TO REVAMP GUJ SCHOOLS

AHMEDABAD: Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) national convener and Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal on Sunday announced that his party will contest the Gujarat assembly elections in alliance with the Bharatiya Tribal Party (BTP) even as he targeted the state government over the “dismal” condition of schools.

Hitting out at the ruling BJP, Kejriwal claimed that 6,000 schools were shut by the Gujarat government in the name of mergers.

The remaining schools, he alleged, were in such poor conditions that they were not fit for students to sit and study in. He invited Gujarat chief minister Bhupendra Patel to visit schools and hospitals in Delhi and “not criticise them baselessly”.

“This time the government of AAP and BTP will be formed,” Kejriwal said, addressing an Adivasi Sankalp Sammelan in Bharuch’s Chandeliya.

This is the first alliance by the AAP in Gujarat ahead of the assembly elections scheduled for later this year.

“This is our first official public rally after victory in the Punjab elections. We are well aware of the exploitation and injustice faced by the adivasi community in Gujarat – first at the hands of the British, then tortured by our own people,” the AAP chief said. “We’ve come to power in Delhi and Punjab, now Gujarat is next. I heard that Gujarat elections will be held soon...be it now or six months later, AAP is confident of coming to power,” said Kejriwal. The AAP leader also promised free electricity, corruption-free government services, doorstep delivery of public services and employment generation for people of Gujarat, if voted to power. Gujarat BJP president CR Paatil on Sunday hit out at Kejriwal, calling him a “threat to national security” for giving “Khalistan-minded people” responsibility in the AAP.