<p>Former TV journalist Isudan Gadhvi will be AAP's chief ministerial candidate for the Gujarat Assembly elections scheduled for December 1 and 5. The 40-year-old Gadhvi had left journalism and joined the party in June last year. He was recently elevated to the post of national joint general secretary of AAP.</p>.<p>Gadhvi was chosen as the CM face based on opinion polls the party collected through SMS, WhatsApp, voice messages and emails. Kejriwal said that the party received 16,48,500 opinions of which 73 per cent wanted Gadhvi in the CM race.</p>.<p>Thanking Kejriwal, his party and the public for choosing him as the contender, Gadhvi said that "it's a big occasion for a person like me, who comes from a small farmer's family." His mother and wife also gave brief speeches while congratulating him and thanking Kejriwal and the party.</p>.<p><a href="https://www.deccanherald.com/national/national-politics/congress-will-win-gujarat-polls-aap-only-in-air-not-on-ground-rahul-1158100.html"><strong>Also read: Congress will win Gujarat polls; AAP only in air, not on ground: Rahul</strong></a></p>.<p>"I did journalism around issues impacting farmers, unemployment, women, businessmen, labourers and contractual workers. But, as there is a limit to what a journalist can do, I felt to more by having authority to order to get things done. But the system is bad and it needs cleansing. After talking to Kejriwal ji, I left my secured job as a head of a new channel and joined AAP to do politics of work for the people in the true sense, something that Kejriwal ji is doing in Delhi," Gadhvi said, addressing the gathering after the announcement.</p>.<p>Remembering his father in the emotional moment, he said, "Politics is not my desire but compulsion. Arvind Kejriwal told me that I should raise issues affecting the common man. If people like you and I don't join politics, then the corrupt will have a free run."</p>.<p>Even before the announcement, Gadhvi's name was doing the rounds as the frontrunner while party state president Gopal Italia's popularity faded after his old videos surfaced, targeting PM Narendra Modi, his mother and Hindu religious practices. The BJP is said to have cornered Italia, who comes from Patidar community.</p>.<p>Gadhvi belongs to Other Backward Caste (OBC), which accounts for nearly 50 per cent population in the state. AAP has also been warming up to the influential Patidar community for the past year. Besides making Italia as Gujarat unit's chief, AAP inducted two more Patidar youth leaders in the party including Alpesh Kathiriya and Dharmik Malaviya, the duo who were part of the 2015 Patidar reservation agitation.</p>
<p>Former TV journalist Isudan Gadhvi will be AAP's chief ministerial candidate for the Gujarat Assembly elections scheduled for December 1 and 5. The 40-year-old Gadhvi had left journalism and joined the party in June last year. He was recently elevated to the post of national joint general secretary of AAP.</p>.<p>Gadhvi was chosen as the CM face based on opinion polls the party collected through SMS, WhatsApp, voice messages and emails. Kejriwal said that the party received 16,48,500 opinions of which 73 per cent wanted Gadhvi in the CM race.</p>.<p>Thanking Kejriwal, his party and the public for choosing him as the contender, Gadhvi said that "it's a big occasion for a person like me, who comes from a small farmer's family." His mother and wife also gave brief speeches while congratulating him and thanking Kejriwal and the party.</p>.<p><a href="https://www.deccanherald.com/national/national-politics/congress-will-win-gujarat-polls-aap-only-in-air-not-on-ground-rahul-1158100.html"><strong>Also read: Congress will win Gujarat polls; AAP only in air, not on ground: Rahul</strong></a></p>.<p>"I did journalism around issues impacting farmers, unemployment, women, businessmen, labourers and contractual workers. But, as there is a limit to what a journalist can do, I felt to more by having authority to order to get things done. But the system is bad and it needs cleansing. After talking to Kejriwal ji, I left my secured job as a head of a new channel and joined AAP to do politics of work for the people in the true sense, something that Kejriwal ji is doing in Delhi," Gadhvi said, addressing the gathering after the announcement.</p>.<p>Remembering his father in the emotional moment, he said, "Politics is not my desire but compulsion. Arvind Kejriwal told me that I should raise issues affecting the common man. If people like you and I don't join politics, then the corrupt will have a free run."</p>.<p>Even before the announcement, Gadhvi's name was doing the rounds as the frontrunner while party state president Gopal Italia's popularity faded after his old videos surfaced, targeting PM Narendra Modi, his mother and Hindu religious practices. The BJP is said to have cornered Italia, who comes from Patidar community.</p>.<p>Gadhvi belongs to Other Backward Caste (OBC), which accounts for nearly 50 per cent population in the state. AAP has also been warming up to the influential Patidar community for the past year. Besides making Italia as Gujarat unit's chief, AAP inducted two more Patidar youth leaders in the party including Alpesh Kathiriya and Dharmik Malaviya, the duo who were part of the 2015 Patidar reservation agitation.</p>
