Kejri to lead AAP campaign in Gujarat
ARVIND KEJRIWAL TO VISIT GUJARAT EVERY MONTH TO DRUM UP SUPPORT FOR THE PARTY IN THE RUNUP TO ASSEMBLY POLLS
NEW DELHI: Beginning March, Delhi chief minister and Aam Aadmi Party leader Arvind Kejriwal will visit Gujarat once every month to drum up support for the party in the run-up to the state polls due year-end.
The AAP brass, which held a series of meetings from February 23 and February 25, has decided to focus on the home state of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, where the party fancies its chances.
Senior party leaders have been assigned the task of building the organisation in Gujarat to present AAP as an alternative to the BJP and the Congress.
A good performance in Gujarat would help the party establish its national credentials ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha elections that Kejriwal is eyeing.
The party’s highest decisionmaking body, the political affairs committee (PAC), will hold a show of strength in the state capital Gandhinagar on March 26.
“There will be a massive rally which Arvind Kejriwal will address,” a party leader said.
The party had earlier planned a gherao of Gujarat chief minister Vijay Rupani for the alleged failure of the BJP government to deliver on its promises but decided to turn the event into a Kejriwal show.
Apart from state in-charge Gopal Rai, several PAC members will be responsible for building a strong state unit.
Senior leaders Sanjay Singh, Durgesh Pathak, Ashutosh and Ashish Khetan will be camping in the western state. “Immediately after the Punjab results, Singh and Pathak will move to Gujarat and work on a partybuilding exercise similar to Punjab,” a leader said.
Results for Punjab and four other state elections will be announced on March 11.
AAP leaders would tour Gujarat on March 5 and meet volunteers to explain to them the importance of Gujarat in AAP’s scheme of things, sources said.
The last election in Gujarat, held in December 2012, returned Modi as the CM and was instrumental in the BJP picking him as the prime ministerial candidate. The BJP, which has been in power in Gujarat for 19 years, has seen two CMs after Modi took over as the PM in May 2014. LONDON: The UK-India investment relationship is hugely important, a key minister responsible for Brexit negotiations told finance minister Arun Jaitley at the London Stock Exchange on Monday.
Jaitley opened the market at LSE in the morning, accompanied by international trade secretary Liam Fox and others.
“India is now the third largest investor and second largest job creator in the UK, the UK is the largest G20 investor in India and plays an important role in building skills in the Indian workforce,” Fox said.
Following the market opening ceremony, London Stock Exchange CEO Nikhil Rathi hosted a roundtable event with Jaitley, delegates from the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry, fintech companies and leading investors. Rathi said: “Minister Jaitley’s second visit to the UK in a year underlines the success of the business and financial partnership between the UK and India and builds on recent landmark visits by Prime Minister Theresa May to India and Prime Minister Modi to the UK.
“We’re honoured once again to welcome Minister Jaitley to open trading on our historic markets...”