Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) convener Arvind Kejriwal on Friday named former TV news anchor and social activist Isudan Gadhvi as the party’s chief ministerial candidate for next month’s assembly elections in Gujarat, where the party is hoping to spring a surprise against the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and push the Opposition Congress into third place.
Delhi chief minister Kejriwal said 40-year-old Gadhvi, who is a national general secretary of the AAP, got 73% votes in a poll conducted by the party to select the CM candidate. “On the wish of the people of Gujarat, Gadhvi is being named AAP’s chief ministerial candidate,” Kejriwal said.
Gadhvi was up against state party unit chief Gopal Italia, a key member of the Patidar community who was recently summoned by the National Women’s Commission for controversial comments against Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Italia was on the dais when the announcement was made, and congratulated Gadhvi for being named the party’s CM face.
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Gadhvi said, if given an opportunity to become the chief minister, he will either deliver on his promises or else he would quit politics.
{{/usCountry}}Gadhvi said, if given an opportunity to become the chief minister, he will either deliver on his promises or else he would quit politics.
{{/usCountry}}“Have faith in me. I will keep working for the people of Gujarat,” Gadhvi, whose mother was also present when the announcement was made, said. While the BJP did not react to the development, the Congress said Gadhvi’s role is to cut the party’s votes in Gujarat.
Recalling his meeting with Kejriwal before joining the AAP in 2021, Gadhvi said: “I was a successful journalist and had been raising issues of common people... When I met Arvind ji, he told me that to clean the mess, you need to enter it. It was then that I decided to join politics.”
“Isudan hails from a small place near Khambhaliya town in Saurashtra where his family is engaged in farming. Like Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Gadhvi also belongs to the OBC (other backward classes) community. It will be interesting to see how his role as CM candidate plays out ,” said Satish Mori, channel head for Praveg TV.
Mori first hired Gadhvi as a journalist for a news channel in Vapi after he completed his postgraduate diploma in journalism from Gujarat Vidyapith, Ahmedabad, in 2005. “The day he decided to quit journalism, he came and told me he is going to soon join politics,” Mori added.
Gadhvi became known across Gujarat, thanks to Mahamanthan, a prime-time show he hosted between 2015 and 2021.
He comes from a family of farmers in Dwarka district, and is from the OBC community, which accounts for 48% of the state’s population.
Elections for the 182-member Gujarat assembly will be held in two phases on December 1 and 5. The results will be announced on December 8.
Kejriwal said over 1.6 million people voted in the poll to select the CM candidate, of which 73% preferred Gadhvi. Last week, Kejriwal urged people to contact the party through SMS, WhatsApp, voice mail and e-mail to give their views about who should be the CM candidate from the party.
“During the Punjab elections, we had asked people as to who should be the next chief minister. People named Bhagwant Mann by a huge majority. And as per the wishes of the public, we made him the chief minister,” Kejriwal said.
State AAP chief Italia said Gadhvi had worked hard to reach his current position.
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“He is a capable person and I am sure that under his leadership, AAP will form the government in Gujarat,” he said.
State Congress spokesperson Manish Doshi hit out at the AAP: “We are sure Gadhvi will try his best to carry the duties cut out for him. His role is very well defined and it is to ensure his party cuts maximum number of Congress votes. AAP is the B-team of BJP.”
Gujarat BJP spokesperson Yamal Vyas declined to comment on the matter.
Experts were apprehensive of the fallout of AAP’s decision. “The AAP has tried to score a point over Congress by declaring a CM candidate. I will not be surprised if some senior leaders quit over this decision...,” said Vidyut Joshi, former vice-chancellor of the Bhavnagar University, alluding to Gadhvi’s recent entry into politics.