kejriwal: A frequent visitor to Guj now, Kejriwal to meet tribal leader Vasava today

With a focus on the Gujarat assembly polls later this year, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) supremo Arvind Kejriwal landed in Gujarat once again on Saturday evening.

On Sunday, he is scheduled to meet Bharatiya Tribal Party chief Chotu Vasava at his residence. He will also attend the Adivasi Sankalp Maha Sammelan, before returning to Delhi via Vadodara.

For all practical purposes, Kejriwal is aggressively moving in, to the areas which are showing any sign of disaffection towards the ruling dispensation in Gujarat to consolidate his support base in the state.

While the strategy makes political sense, Congress leaders here say AAP’s entry would only benefit the BJP and, in fact, they see it as a ploy by the state’s ruling party to split votes that could otherwise go to Congress.

“Make no mistake, the AAP is being pressed into service in Gujarat to take off the steam of disenchantment that has set across certain sections of the society after more than 25 years of BJP rule,” said Paresh Dhanani, a former leader of opposition. “If you take a closer look, you’ll see that back in 2007, Gujarat saw the Sardar Patel Utkasrh Samiti, by 2009 Mahagujarat Janata Party, the Gujarat Parivartan Party in 2012, all mushroomed around elections in the state to allow the disenchanted Patidar community to vent their ire without any tangible political impact,” Dhanani added.

“Come 2017, no such body could be floated and the result was there for all to see. The BJP juggernaut was reduced to double digits,” he added.

“So this year we have the AAP stepping into the Gujarat polity to ensure that the angry votes don’t go to the Congress, eventually paving way for the BJP,” Dhanani added.