Tag: AAP Gujarat

  • Ex-journalist Isudan Gadhvi is AAP’s CM face for Gujarat assembly elections

    By Online Desk

    The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has declared Isudan Gadhvi as their chief ministerial candidate for the Gujarat assembly elections. 

    The announcement was made by Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal who said the 40-year-old Gadhvi got as many as 73 per cent votes in a poll conducted by the party. Kejriwal said the party conducted the poll by asking people to call a phone number and listen to a recorded message which asked them to choose their chief ministerial face.

    Gadhvi was pitted against state party unit chief Gopal Italia, who played a key role in the Patidar community agitation.

    Gadhvi is AAP’s National Joint General Secretary and a member of its National Executive team. 

    A well-known TV journalist, Gadhvi was the former editor of VTV News and used to anchor the channel’s popular news show Mahamanthan.

    He hails from a farmers’ family in Dwarka district’s Pipaliya village and belongs to the other backward castes, which account for 48 per cent of the state’s population.

    Elections to the 182-member state assembly will take place over two phases on December 1 and 5, the Election Commission announced on Thursday in the backdrop of the Morbi bridge collapse four days ago.

    All eyes are on AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal as well as his party leaders who have made a high decibel entry into the field, giving voters a third option in a state that has for decades been bipolar in its politics.

    AAP is stirring interest with its aggressive campaigning and long list of attractive pre-poll “guarantees”.

    The AAP is banking on ‘welfarism’, the fact that it is a new alternative and its stress on day to day people issues to woo voters.

    OPINION | One disruptor and two old foes perk up Gujarat polls

    Kejriwal has anchored his party’s campaign around a slew of sops, including 300 units of free electricity per month, free education in government schools, unemployment dole, Rs 1,000 allowance to women and monthly stipend to new lawyers.

    The party began campaigning much ahead of the BJP and other parties.

    The 10-year-old outfit has also left other parties far behind as far as announcement of candidates are concerned.

    So far, the AAP, which is likely to contest all 182 seats, has announced names of candidates for 73 Assembly segments.

    The BJP has 111 seats and the Congress 62 in the current assembly. The NCP has one, BTP two, Independent one and five seats are vacant, including three after Congress MLAs resigned.

    The elections are crucial for BJP, which has won six successive terms and aims at retaining power in Modi’s home state, as well as for AAP, hoping desperately that a win in Gujarat will propel it to a pan-India political force, the third state in its bag after Delhi and a victory in Punjab in March this year.

    The Congress, on its part, hopes to end its 27-year stint in the Opposition but has so far been quiet with its national leaders conspicuous by their absence.

    READ HERE | Bridge collapse to Bilkis Bano convicts’ remission: Top issues in Gujarat Assembly elections

    (With PTI inputs)

    The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has declared Isudan Gadhvi as their chief ministerial candidate for the Gujarat assembly elections. 

    The announcement was made by Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal who said the 40-year-old Gadhvi got as many as 73 per cent votes in a poll conducted by the party. Kejriwal said the party conducted the poll by asking people to call a phone number and listen to a recorded message which asked them to choose their chief ministerial face.

    Gadhvi was pitted against state party unit chief Gopal Italia, who played a key role in the Patidar community agitation.

    Gadhvi is AAP’s National Joint General Secretary and a member of its National Executive team. 

    A well-known TV journalist, Gadhvi was the former editor of VTV News and used to anchor the channel’s popular news show Mahamanthan.

    He hails from a farmers’ family in Dwarka district’s Pipaliya village and belongs to the other backward castes, which account for 48 per cent of the state’s population.

    Elections to the 182-member state assembly will take place over two phases on December 1 and 5, the Election Commission announced on Thursday in the backdrop of the Morbi bridge collapse four days ago.

    All eyes are on AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal as well as his party leaders who have made a high decibel entry into the field, giving voters a third option in a state that has for decades been bipolar in its politics.

    AAP is stirring interest with its aggressive campaigning and long list of attractive pre-poll “guarantees”.

    The AAP is banking on ‘welfarism’, the fact that it is a new alternative and its stress on day to day people issues to woo voters.

    OPINION | One disruptor and two old foes perk up Gujarat polls

    Kejriwal has anchored his party’s campaign around a slew of sops, including 300 units of free electricity per month, free education in government schools, unemployment dole, Rs 1,000 allowance to women and monthly stipend to new lawyers.

    The party began campaigning much ahead of the BJP and other parties.

    The 10-year-old outfit has also left other parties far behind as far as announcement of candidates are concerned.

    So far, the AAP, which is likely to contest all 182 seats, has announced names of candidates for 73 Assembly segments.

    The BJP has 111 seats and the Congress 62 in the current assembly. The NCP has one, BTP two, Independent one and five seats are vacant, including three after Congress MLAs resigned.

    The elections are crucial for BJP, which has won six successive terms and aims at retaining power in Modi’s home state, as well as for AAP, hoping desperately that a win in Gujarat will propel it to a pan-India political force, the third state in its bag after Delhi and a victory in Punjab in March this year.

    The Congress, on its part, hopes to end its 27-year stint in the Opposition but has so far been quiet with its national leaders conspicuous by their absence.

    READ HERE | Bridge collapse to Bilkis Bano convicts’ remission: Top issues in Gujarat Assembly elections

    (With PTI inputs)

  • AAP’s Gujarat chief Gopal Italia detained by Delhi Police

    By IANS

    NEW DELHI: The Delhi Police detained Gopal Italia, Aam Aadmi Party’s chief in Gujarat for his alleged remarks against Prime Minister Narendra Modi, from the office of National Commission for Women (NCW) here.

    He was earlier summoned by the National Commission for Women (NCW) for using derogatory words against women.

    On Thursday, Italia was at the NCW office where a team of Delhi Police arrived and took him to the Sarita Vihar police station in South East Delhi.

    As of now, the officials have not given any official statement on the status of his detention.

    Further details were awaited.

    Recently, two old videos of Italia had surfaced, one in which he criticises Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s “neech” politics, and another in which he makes derogatory remarks against women.

    NEW DELHI: The Delhi Police detained Gopal Italia, Aam Aadmi Party’s chief in Gujarat for his alleged remarks against Prime Minister Narendra Modi, from the office of National Commission for Women (NCW) here.

    He was earlier summoned by the National Commission for Women (NCW) for using derogatory words against women.

    On Thursday, Italia was at the NCW office where a team of Delhi Police arrived and took him to the Sarita Vihar police station in South East Delhi.

    As of now, the officials have not given any official statement on the status of his detention.

    Further details were awaited.

    Recently, two old videos of Italia had surfaced, one in which he criticises Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s “neech” politics, and another in which he makes derogatory remarks against women.

  • AAP begins membership drive to take on BJP in 2022 Gujarat elections

    By PTI
    AHMEDABAD: Upbeat after performing well in the recent local bodies polls in Gujarat, the Aam Aadmi Party on Monday launched a drive to increase its membership to 50 lakh in 50 days as part of preparations for the 2022 Assembly polls.

    Under its ‘Mission 2022’ plan, the party will open 55,000 booth-level committees over the next six months and take efforts to strengthen its district set up, state unit chief Gopal Italiya said at a press conference here.

    “We are launching a mobile number, 72800-38003, for people to give a missed call and become AAP members. We will contest the 2022 election with full strength and will not let the BJP win this time,” he added.

    Gulab Singh, AAP MLA from Delhi and the party’s Gujarat in charge said its south zone in charge in the state, Manoj Sorathiya, had been made general secretary as reward for the wonderful performance in the Surat municipal corporation polls.

    “The 2022 Assembly election will be a direct contest between the BJP and AAP,” Sorathiya said.

  • Gujarat: AAP to contest all seats in local polls, releases first list

    Express News Service
    NEW DELHI: Aiming to expand its footprints nationally, the Arvind Kejriwal-led Aam Aadmi Party on Sunday announced to contest all seats in the upcoming local bodies polls in Gujarat, the home state of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

    Releasing the party’s first list of 504 candidates in Ahmadabad, Delhi MLA and AAP’s national spokesperson Atishi said the residents of Gujarat were looking for an alternative as the BJP had been in power in the state for many years.

    Elections to the local bodies — municipalities, municipal corporations, district and taluka panchayats — in Gujarat are likely to be held in February. “The AAP will contest on all seats in the local bodies’ polls in the state for the first time. With this, the party will enter the electoral politics of Gujarat as a strong alternative to the BJP. AAP will work to remove the BJP from power,” said Atishi.

    “Not just the local bodies’ polls, but AAP will also contest the Vidhan Sabha elections as well as other polls,” she added. The party held a road show in Ahmedabad after releasing the list of candidates. With the AAP spreading its organisational reach, the party hopes to counter ‘Gujarat Model’ with ‘Kejriwal Model’ of governance.

    Recently, it selected a young face, Gopal Italia, as president of its Gujarat unit to lead the campaign in the upcoming civic polls. Gulab Singh, party MLA from Matiala in Delhi, who is party co-incharge in the state, had earlier inaugurated the ‘AAP Mohalla Clinics’ in Ahmedabad.