BackArvind Kejriwal visits Somnath during Gujarat visit
Arvind Kejriwal's day-long visit is seen as an effort to strengthen AAP's position ahead of the 2017 state elections
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Ahmedabad: Delhi chief minister and Aam Aadmi Party chief Arvind Kejriwal on Saturday visited Gujarat—the home state of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Kejriwal’s day-long visit is seen as an effort to strengthen his party’s position ahead of the 2017 state elections where it aims to contest in all the 182 assembly seats.
Kejriwal, who landed in Rajkot this morning with his family and party leader Kumar Vishwas, visited the famous Lord Shiva temple at Somnath.
Thousands of supporters, donning AAP caps, welcomed Kejriwal at the Rajkot airport.
Taking on Gujarat chief minister Anandiben Patel, Kejriwal said that the original plan was a two-day visit which included a meeting with businessmen in Surat.
“But Anandibenji put undue pressure on people in and businessmen in Surat and got our programme cancelled," he said.
Kejriwal’s visit to Surat on 10 July had to be cancelled after a trade body withdrew its invitation. AAP alleged that the cancellation was at the behest of the state’s Bharatiya Janata Party government.
The Somnath temple is politically significant, especially for the BJP and its veteran leaders. In 1990, senior BJP leader L.K. Advani’s Rathyatra from Somnath temple to Ayodhya, had helped the party capture the Hindu vote bank.
Somnath temple is managed by Somnath Trust and Prime Minister Modi and BJP chief Amit Shah are its trustees.
Kejriwal visited villages of Junagadh, Rajkot district and Gir-Somnath region and alleged that the people of the state are unhappy under the present BJP rule in the state. Making a pitch that AAP will be a far better alternative if voted to power, he alleged the present state administration of corruption.
“Gujarat fed up of Anandiben Patel’s corrupt mal-administration. Huge support for AAP," he said in a tweet on Saturday.
In the same tweet he claimed while quoting unnamed sources that BJP will replace chief minister Patel with BJP president Amit Shah.
After Punjab and Goa, AAP is focusing on building its organizational structure in Gujarat. It hopes to emerge as a third front in a state whose political narrative is defined by its bipolar contests between the BJP and the Congress.
AAP has about 4.5 lakh members in Gujarat who joined the party during the Lok Sabha elections in 2014. This year in February, it began ‘Mission Gujarat Jodo’ to increase visibility and to get new memberships. The party has held over 50 meetings so far and have registered over 1 lakh new members.
During his visit, Kejriwal also evoked Hardik Patel, saying that although Patel quota agitation leader was locked up in jail over a sedition case, no such case has been registered against former Maharashtra minister Eknath Khadse who faces allegations including of irregularities in a land deal.
Kejriwal’ visit to the Somnath-Rajkot belt in Saurashtra which is a strong hold of the Patel community is also seen as an attempt to woo the powerful community. Members of the powerful and influential Patels, who have been supporting the BJP for over two decades now and constitute about 14% of the state’s population, have been agitating for quotas for over a year now.
In June, posters and banners of Kejriwal were seen in cities such as Ahmedabad, Surat and Rajkot, with claims of support from the Patel community for AAP and its leader.
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