Gujarat is ready for change, says Kejriwal ahead of visit
AHMEDABAD : “Gujarat is now ready for transformation,” said Aam Aadmi Party supremo and Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal on Sunday, as he announced his visit to Ahmedabad on Monday ahead of the Gujarat assembly elections in 2022. During his visit, Kejriwal is set to inaugurate the AAP’S new state office and hold meetings with state leaders to discuss the future strategy, said officials familiar with the matter.
“Havey badlashe Gujarat. Kaley hun Gujarat aavi rahyo chhu, Gujarat na bhai-behno ney malish (the state will transform now, am coming to Gujarat tomorrow and meet the people of the state),” Kejriwal tweeted in Gujarati.
The AAP’S Gujarat media incharge, Tuli Banerjee, said Kejriwal will arrive in Ahmedabad on Monday morning.
According to people familiar with the developments, the AAP is looking for a prominent face to lead the election campaign in Gujarat. This will be Kejriwal’s second visit to Gujarat this year.
He last visited Surat in February this year, after the AAP’S encouraging performance in the city’s municipal corporation elections. In its debut performance, the AAP emerged as the main opposition to the BJP, winning 27 seats in the 120member Surat Municipal Corporation and leaving the Congress with zero seats.
The visit comes a day after two estranged sects of the powerful Patidar (Patel) community -- Kadva Patel and Leuva Patel -- came on a common platform to praise the AAP during an event in Rajkot’s Kagwad.
Patidar leader Naresh Patel appreciated the “work culture of the AAP”. According to Patel, the key topic of discussion during Saturday’ meeting was to push for Patel as a chief minister contender in Gujarat.
Patels, who form 14% of the electorate, have been an influential caste right since the antireservation agitation of the 80’s and they have been economically powerful. They have been a strong votebank of the BJP, until the 2015 Hardik Patel agitation that had helped immensely helped the Congress in the 2017 assembly polls.
Earlier, the Patidar Anamat Andolan Samithi (PAAS) had extended support to the AAP candidates contesting from Patidar-dominated areas in the Surat civic elections.
A Patidar leader, who was present at the meeting, said there was resentment among the community leaders that the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party was “giving a short shrift to the Patels”.
“The chief minister is a Jain, the BJP president (CR) Paatil is a Marathi. They had a Patidar president in Jitu Vaghani, who is a Patel, but has been sidelined,” he said.
A BJP spokesperson Yagnesh Dave said,“when a social community leader speaks, he should say that the Chief Minister should work for the welfare of their community. It is very selfish to say that the CM should be only from a certain caste.” As for the Patidar congregation praising the AAP, he said, “That is their personal opinion, we won’t like to comment on this.”
Political analyst Vidyut Joshi said, “The Patidar leaders are seeing an opportunity in the emergence of AAP, especially after the Patidar Anamat Andolan Samiti backed the party in the Surat civic body polls, and AAP may well try to find a constituency in them. In this case, Naresh Patel himself aspires to be the CM, so the Patidar card.”