A day after his wife's arrest, AAP rallies behind its firebrand tribal MLA in Gujarat

Ahmedabad: The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in Gujarat on Saturday rallied behind its firebrand tribal leader and first-time legislator Chaiter Vasava who is facing arrest for threatening forest officials and firing one round in the air.

A day earlier, the Narmada district police arrested his wife and personal assistant, both co-accused, while Vasava remained untraceable.  

AAP alleged that, "BJP government was attacking not just Vasava by arresting his wife, but the entire tribal community."

The party said that Vasava, a probable candidate for the upcoming Lok Sabha candidate, is being targeted since he might win the upcoming Lok Sabha election because of his popularity.

Party's Gujarat president Isudan Gadhvi told reporters that although names are yet to be finalized the party was considering giving ticket to Vasava. The BJP has been winning all 26 Lok Sabha seats for the past two terms. 

Throwing wait behind Vasava, party chief and Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal on X (formerly Twitter) posted, "Yesterday, BJP filed a false case against AAP MLA and a big leader of tribal community @Chaitar_Vasava. Even Chaiter bhai's wife was arrested. BJP never allowed the tribals to come forward. Only exploited them. When AAP promoted the son of tribal community, BJP is unable to tolerate it. The entire tribal community will take account of this from the BJP."

Vasava is one of the five MLAs of AAP. He won from Dediapada seat in the tribal-dominated Narmada district. He is the working president of AAP and legislative party leader of AAP in the Gujarat assembly.

On November 2, he was booked for allegedly threatening forest officials and firing a round in the air at his residence in Dediapada. His wife Shakuntala, personal assistant Jitu, and Ramesh Vasava, co accused in the case, were arrested by the local police on Friday.

Vasava and others have been booked for rioting, extortion, assault and threatening a public servant in discharge of his duty and sections of arms act. FIR stated that the dispute arose after forest officials asked one of the accused Ramesh Vasava to clear a farm land which allegedly belongs to the government.

However, the AAP MLA and other accused claimed otherwise and sought compensation for destroying the standing crop of Ramesh. On October 30, Vasava is reported to have summoned the forest officials and threatened them against clearing the land. The FIR stated that Vasava and other accused abused the forest officials and assaulted one of them.