AAP raises Guj poll pitch, Kejriwal targets BJP govt
AHMEDABAD: Delhi chief minister and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) convener Arvind Kejriwal and Punjab chief minister Bhagwant Mann on Saturday appealed to the people of Gujarat to give the AAP a chance to “end corruption” as the two leaders visited the state scheduled to hold assembly elections this year.
Kejriwal and Mann kicked off their two-day tour of the state with a visit to the Sabarmati Ashram, where they were seen spinning the charkha at the ‘Hriday Kunj’. Hriday Kunj was the residential quarters of Mahatma Gandhi and Kasturba Gandhi.
Later, Kejriwal and Mann set out on a 2km ‘Tiranga Gaurav Yatra’, flanked by Gujarat AAP leaders Isudan Gadhvi and Gopal Italia. “We are not here to defeat the Congress or the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). We are here to make the country win. We were told by somebody today that after 25 years of being in power, the BJP has become arrogant,” Kejriwal told a crowd at the conclusion of the hour-long roadshow.
The roadshow covered 30 of the 33 districts in the state.
“You have given 25 years to the BJP, now give us one chance. The people of Delhi and Punjab have given us a chance. Look at the work we have done in schools and hospitals there. We have made electricity free for the people. We have also made Delhi corruption-free. Look at Punjab, where we have done away with corruption within 10 days of coming to power,” he added.
The AAP registered a historic
win in the Punjab assembly polls last month by bagging a threefourths majority with 92 seats.
Addressing the crowd, Mann said: “Delhi and Punjab are sorted, now we are preparing for Gujarat.” He also referred to the recent cases of paper leak during exams for government recruitment in Gujarat, and said that it was not limited to question papers alone.
“The AAP has emerged from a revolution, and we do not tolerate corruption. Wherever there is corruption, people are picking up the ‘jhadu’ (broom, the party’s election symbol)... this slush of corruption and arrogance must go,” Mann added.
The BJP did not comment on the duo’s remarks.
“This (roadshow) came across as a managed show... They have been making false allegations about Congress but today, even after one decade, they haven’t been able to prove a single claim of theirs. They have misled the people of Delhi and, more recently, they misled people of Punjab. But their tactics won’t work in Gujarat,” said Nishit Vyas, spokesperson for Gujarat Congress.
“In a democratic setup where one party has been in power for such a long time in the state, a party like AAP eyeing space in the opposition is always welcome. It is too early to say what kind of impact AAP may have in Gujarat where elections are only nine months away. Surat civic body polls surely was an indicator,” said Satyakam Joshi, a political expert and a faculty at Centre for Social Studies, Surat.