Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) chief Arvind Kejriwal has held about a dozen roadshows in Gujarat’s Saurashtra and Kutch regions alone ahead of next month’s assembly elections, naming Isudan Gadhvi as the party’s chief ministerial candidate. The party claimed to have received more than 1.6 million endorsements for the “elect chief minister” campaign as it seeks to expand its influence beyond its strongholds of Punjab and Delhi.
AAP has also sought to establish itself as the main challenger to the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which has been in power in the home state of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah for 27 years. However, both Congress and BJP were dismissive of AAP. Shah claimed this week that the electoral contest was only between the Congress and the BJP. He noted that the BJP in Gujarat has not lost an assembly or national election since 1990.
On October 31, Rahul Gandhi also rubbished the hype surrounding AAP’s prospects in Gujarat, saying it was created on the basis of advertisements without any real support. “Congress is actively fighting the Gujarat elections and is bound to win. …It [AAP] has nothing on the ground.” In 2017, the Congress recorded its best electoral performance in Gujarat in a decade, winning 77 of the 182 seats. BJP won 99 seats. Its tally later rose to 111, while 14 Congress legislators defected to the BJP.
AAP has promised 300 units of free electricity per month, monthly allowance of ₹1,000 to all women and monthly allowance of ₹3,000 to unemployed youth if elected to power. Both Congress and AAP have promised to restore the old pension system. Kejriwal continues to project the election as a straight contest between BJP and AAP. “I estimate that the Congress will get a vote share of less than 13%,” he told the media in Ahmedabad. He asked Congress supporters not to waste their votes by voting for the party.
At a roadshow after in Junagadh, Kejriwal said that voters have given BJP 27 years to rule. “…please give me five years.” If nothing is done, I will not come to ask for votes next time.’ The BJP plans to intensify its campaign through a series of roadshows by its star activists such as Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, party chief Jagat Prakash Nadda and Shah. He continues to rely on Modi’s influence in Gujarat, where he was chief minister until 2014. State BJP chief CR Patil said that chief ministers from three states and six Union ministers would campaign across the state. The BJP is planning a “carpet bombing” campaign to win 82 of the 89 seats that go to the polls in the first phase of elections on December 1.
