JOIN USAAP will contest all seats in Gujarat in 2022 Assembly polls: Arvind Kejriwal
After offering prayers to Lord Krishna in Ahmedabad on Monday during his second Gujarat visit this year, Delhi Chief Minister and national convener of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) Arvind Kejriwal on Monday announced that his party will be contesting all seats in the Assembly polls scheduled to be held at the end of 2022.
The Delhi CM inaugurated the party's state office in Ahmedabad and formally announced the induction of popular television news anchor Isudan Gadhvi into the party. In February, Kejriwal had visited Surat for a roadshow after his party won 27 of the 120 seats in Surat Municipal Corporation for the first time and became the main opposition in the civic body, ousting the Congress.
"The last 75 years is a story of Congress and BJP in the country. Here in Gujarat, one party has been ruling for the past 27 years but these years are also a story of a partnership between BJP and Congress. They are together. It is said that Congress is in the pocket of the BJP. Congress supplies to the need of the BJP. How long will it go on like this? Who will take care of Gujarat...farmers are committing suicide, there is massive unemployment, government schools and hospitals are in shambles," Kejriwal said while addressing a press conference at Vallabh Sadan.
Without mentioning Prime Minister Narendra Modi or Union Home Minister Amit Shah, natives of the state, Kejriwal said, "The businessmen here are scared. Why do they need to be scared when the country is free. Few years back, I was supposed to visit Gujarat to address in a chamber of commerce here but it got cancelled after the pressure from Gujarat authority," he said.He added that Gujarat has been left "orphaned" during the pandemic.
Pitching his party as an alternative of the BJP and Congress, the Delhi CM said, "A person sitting in Gujarat sees that if electricity can be given for free in Delhi, why is it so expensive in here in Gujarat. If hospitals and schools can be improved in Delhi in five years, why did it not happen here in 70 years." Saying that his party will contest all 182 Assembly seats, he said that the party will take up issues of "unemployment, poor conditions of schools, colleges, hospitals, farmers' suicide".
When asked how will he fight Prime Minister Modi and Union Home Minister Shah on their home turf, Kejriwal said, "We are not here to fight individuals. We are here to take up issues of the common man. Every state has its own model which can't be copied to any other state."