Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) chief Arvind Kejriwal on Wednesday said he will visit Gujarat on February 26, after his party's stunning performance in civic polls. The AAP won 27 seats in Surat in its first outing. The BJP secured 93 out of the 120 seats in Surat, while Congress and other parties did not win any seats.
"AAP has performed very well in the local body polls in Gujarat. I thank the people of Gujarat and especially of Surat. 125 years-old Congress party has been defeated and a new party - the AAP is given responsibility as the main opposition party. Our every candidate will work with honesty," the Delhi chief minister said.
"I will be visiting Surat on February 26 to thank the people for helping Aam Aadmi Party emerge as the main opposition party in Gujarat local body polls and rejecting Congress," Kejriwal added.
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Kejriwal said that a new type of politics has emerged from Gujarat - the politics of honesty. "It is based on work done. It is the politics of good schools, hospitals and cheap electricity. We will develop Gujarat along with developing the lives of people of the state," the AAP chief said.
The Congress failed to open its account in Surat for the first time since 1995, prompting its city president Sagar Raika to quit. In the 2015 elections, the Congress won 36 seats out of a total of 116 in the SMC. The AAP, which did not win any seats in its first electoral foray in Gujarat in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, chose to fight the elections at the grassroots level this time before graduating to the 2022 state polls.
{{/usCountry}}The Congress failed to open its account in Surat for the first time since 1995, prompting its city president Sagar Raika to quit. In the 2015 elections, the Congress won 36 seats out of a total of 116 in the SMC. The AAP, which did not win any seats in its first electoral foray in Gujarat in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, chose to fight the elections at the grassroots level this time before graduating to the 2022 state polls.
{{/usCountry}}Promising to be an alternative to the BJP and the Congress, the party contested without its national convener Kejriwal. But Delhi’s deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia conducted road shows that drew healthy crowds, especially in Surat.
AAP registered victories in areas dominated by the Patidar community, and where the Patidar Anamat Andolan Samiti (PAAS), of which Congress leader Hardik Patel was once the convener, held sway. The PAAS threw its lot behind the AAP this time.
The BJP on Tuesday put up a spectacular performance in the Gujarat municipal corporation elections, improving its numbers over the 2016 polls and nearly decimating the Congress.
The party is set to retain power in all municipal corporations, which went to the polls.