Delhi chief minister and Aam Aadmi Party national convenor Arvind Kejriwal held a ‘Tiranga Yatra’ in Gujarat’s Mehsana on Monday evening, months before the assembly elections in the state.The BJP holds a stronghold in the Mehsana Lok Sabha constituency where Kejriwal addressed his supporters. This is the fourth time Kejriwal is visiting the state in recent times.
“Our party members have been to different constituencies of the state… They interacted with thousands of people…. Gujarat wants change,” Kejriwal said during the ‘Tiranga Yatra’.Stressing that the “Tricolour is our pride and flag”, Kejriwal had earlier urged people to attend the event. “Tricolor is our pride. Tricolor is our flag. Tricolor is our pride. Tricolor is our life. I will join the tricolor yatra in Mehsana, Gujarat this evening. All the people of Gujarat should participate in this – that is my request,” he tweeted.
In the past, Kejriwal and Punjab chief minister Bhagwant Mann had held a roadshow in Ahmedabad on April 2. Prior to this, the Delhi chief minister had visited Gujarat on May 11 and May 1 – during which he had addressed a rally in Bharuch and Rajkot respectively.
The party had made its debut in Gujarat in the 2017 Assembly polls, but could not open its account.AAP’s Gujarat hope has been fuelled by its performance in the February 2021 Surat Municipal Corporation (SMC) polls in which the BJP won 93 seats, while the AAP bagged 27 seats in the Surat Municipal Corporation election, the Congress drew a blank.
On Friday, Delhi deputy chief minister and AAP leader Manish Sisodia announced that the party will be contesting the polls from all 182 seats in Gujarat. Sisodia had said with AAP contesting, “people of the state will have an option in the polls”.
After bagging a major victory in Punjab, the AAP is now expanding its presence in other states. In Gujarat, the AAP is standing up to BJP which has had a stronghold in the state for around three decades.
