E-Paper
'BJP, Congress 'perturbed and scared' after AAP's poll win: Kejriwal in Gujarat’s Surat
Kejriwal held a roadshow in the city to thank voters after making inroads in the recently-held civic polls.
Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal on Friday said the Bharatiya Janata Party and Congress are afraid of his Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) after it breached the BJP’s citadel in Gujarat’s Surat. The AAP won 27 out of the 120 seats in Surat’s municipal corporation in the recently held polls in its first outing. The BJP secured 93 seats and the Congress and other parties failed to win any.
Kejriwal held a roadshow in the city to thank voters after making inroads in the recently-held civic polls. Speaking during the rally, Kejriwal said he has been hearing the statements made by the opposition, including the BJP and Congress, after the AAP's success in the civic polls. "They are perturbed, a little scared. We have to understand that they're not scared of you or AAP. They are scared of people who voted for you," the AAP convenor told newly-elected corporators in Surat.
Attacking the BJP, Kejriwal also said it keeps other parties under control in its bastion state Gujarat. "Why has the BJP been governing here for the last 25 years? It's not as if they are doing great. There are a lot of issues. Different parties come to power in states across the country but only one party is governing here," he said. "It is because they have kept other parties under control. There's no one to tell them anything, they are doing whatever they want," Kejriwal added. "For the first time when there came someone to look them in the eye -- you, people gave you respect," he also said while addressing the corporators.
As the party emerged as the second largest in Gujarat, the BJP seems to be unfazed as it said AAP’s gains should worry the Congress more. “The BJP’s hold in Surat continues. there is no dent in the party’s support base. The AAP has moved into the space vacated by Congress. The leadership crisis in the Congress is forcing it out as the principal opposition,” it had said earlier.
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.
