Gujarat looking for change; AAP only 'medicine' to 'cure' BJP, says Arvind Kejriwal

Kejriwal said the BJP is scared only of his party because it is 'honest and patriotic'

Delhi chief minister and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) national convener, Arvind Kejriwal, on Monday led a mega roadshow called "Tiranga Yatra" in Mehsana town of north Gujarat, a BJP stronghold, where he claimed that people are looking for a change as they are "fed up with the BJP and its sister party Congress".

The Delhi CM while daring Gujarat BJP president C R Paatil to confront him directly said that the only "medicine that will straighten out the BJP, creating an atmosphere of fear, is the AAP."

Kejriwal landed in Gujarat for the fourth time in the past four months, holding roadshows and public gatherings as part of the party's campaign strategies in view of upcoming Assembly polls later this year. Coincidentally, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, too, has visited Gujarat four times in the past equal months ahead of the polls.

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“Gujarat wants to change. The people are fed up with BJP and its sister party Congress. BJP is harassing those who are coming to AAP. I want to tell you all that there is no need to fear. Gujarat is ready for a change and there is only one medicine that will straighten out the BJP which is AAP. It is only AAP that the BJP is scared of," Kejriwal said in his speech atop a truck during the roadshow. He claimed that AAP is a party of "patriots" and "honesty."

Taking on Gujarat BJP chief K R Paatil, Kejriwal said that "Paatil is the real chief minister of Gujarat while Bhupendra Patel is only a namesake. I learnt that Paatil referred to someone from Delhi as 'mahathug". Paatil doesn't have the guts to take my name. You think I am a thug- who builds schools and hospitals. They (BJP) threaten the media by inviting AAP on their shows. Why threaten media people. You threaten AAP, you threaten Kejriwal," the Delhi CM said.

Kejriwal also mentioned a protest rally held by ex-servicemen in Ahmedabad earlier in the day. He said, “When I landed in Ahmedabad, I got to know that thousands of ex-servicemen were protesting there. It wasn't a good sight to see. In Delhi, if any police or army personnel get martyred in the line of duty, AAP’s Delhi government gives them an ex-gratia of Rs 1 crore as Samman Rashi. On the other hand, in Gujarat, the government barely gives them one lakh. On behalf of the ex-servicemen, I call upon the Gujarat government to accept all their demands as well as implement the Rs 1 crore Samman Rashi scheme here.”

Kejriwal led AAP and concluded its 20-day statewide public outreach campaign called "Parivartan Yatra" in Mehsana, known as BJP's fortress for nearly three decades. The town was also the epicentre of Patidar quota agitation. Due to several incidents of violence, ex-Congress leader Hardik Patel, who switched to BJP last week, is still barred from entering the district limits as a condition of bail in one of the various criminal cases that the quota agitation leader is facing.

While the principal opposition party, Congress, is trying to keep its crumbling house intact, the AAP is said to be gaining ground. Congress has suffered back-to-back setbacks with its MLAs switching allegiance to the ruling BJP and recently Hardik Patel, state's working president, joining the long list of such defectors.