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'She wants to follow path of PM Modi...': Ravindra Jadeja bats for wife and BJP candidate Rivaba in Gujarat polls
2022 Gujarat Assembly election: Rivaba Jadeja will contest from Jamnagar North and file her nomination today, ANI reported.
Cricketer Ravindra Jadeja - wearing a saffron kurta - accompanied his wife Rivaba Jadeja to a BJP event in Gujarat's Jamnagar Monday before she files her nomination as a party candidate for next month's Assembly election.
Rivaba Jadeja will contest the Jamnagar (North) seat.
"Cricketer Ravindra Jadeja and his wife and BJP leader Rivaba Jadeja attend an event in Jamnagar organised ahead of the filing of nomination for the upcoming Gujarat Election. Rivaba Jadeja will contest from Jamnagar North and file her nomination today," a tweet with images shared by news agency ANI said.
"It is her first time as an MLA candidate and she'll learn a lot. I hope she will progress… She is of (a) helping nature and has always wanted to help people and hence joined politics. She wants to follow the path of PM Modi to work for the people," Jadeja told reporters at the event.
Rivaba Jadeja and ex Congress leader Hardik Patel were in first list of 160 candidates released by the BJP last week; Patel - who led the Patidar community agitation for quotas and defected in June - will contest from Viramgam.
READ | Gujarat polls: Rivaba Jadeja, Hardik Patel in BJP’s 1st list of nominees
Rivaba Jadeja joined the BJP in 2019 and, ahead of the Lok Sabha election, had sought a party ticket from the Jamnagar constituency
On Sunday, Jadeja posted a video on Twitter calling for support for his wife.
Speaking in Gujarati, he said: "My dear Jamnagar residents and all cricket fans. As you all know that here Gujarat assembly elections are progressing fast like T20 cricket. BJP has made my wife Rivabaa candidate."
"She is going to file nomination papers on November 14. It is your responsibility to create an atmosphere of victory. So let's meet tomorrow morning."
Gujarat will vote for a new government in two phases - on December 1 and 5 - with results due on December 8, with those from the Himachal Pradesh poll.
The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party is widely expected to see off challenges from the Congress and the Aam Aadmi Party, and retain control of prime minister Narendra Modi's home state.
