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FIR against Gujarat AAP chief for alleged derogatory remarks against BJP leaders
The FIR accused AAP Gujarat chief Gopal Italia of using derogatory language against his BJP counterpart C R Paatil and minister of state for home Harsh Sanghavi at a rally in Surat
The Gujarat police have registered a first information report (FIR) against Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) state chief Gopal Italia for allegedly using derogatory language against his Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) counterpart C R Paatil and minister of state for home Harsh Sanghavi at a rally in Surat, police said on Saturday.
An FIR has been registered based on a complaint filed by Pratapbhai Chodvadiya, a Surat-based businessman, said an official at Umra police station, where the complaint has been lodged.
Italia held a rally after Gujarat AAP leader Manoj Sorathiya was allegedly attacked by a group of nearly 10 persons in Surat city on August 30, said an AAP official. It is during these speeches that Italia is likely to have made some remarks that are being termed derogatory, he added.
The Arvind Kejriwal-led outfit has blamed the ruling BJP for the attack on Sorathiya. The BJP has dismissed the AAP’s claim of attack as a drama to gain sympathy of people ahead of the polls.
Gujarat BJP spokesperson Rutvij Patel said people who were named as accused in the FIR after the attack were actually the victims of violence unleashed by the AAP outside its office.
“When BJP workers were standing at a distance, AAP cadres suddenly rushed towards them in large numbers and attacked our men. As a result, BJP’s Dinesh Desai, Kishan Desai and Karsan Sagathiya received serious injuries. They are now receiving treatment at a private hospital,” Patel said.
Arvind Kejriwal, who is on a two-day visit to the poll-bound Gujarat, participated in a door-to-door campaign in Rajkot on Saturday, handing out the Aam Aadmi Party’s ‘guarantee’ cards to the local people of Rajkot.
“This is the kind of attack you do when you are losing. The BJP is sensing its defeat. I want to tell them so far now they were dealing with the Congress, but we are not Congress. We believe in Sardar Patel and Bhagat Singh. We are not afraid, we will fight,” Kejriwal said on Saturday while talking about the attack on Sorathiya.
He said that his party has done a survey in Surat and found that the AAP is winning seven out of 12 seats.
Kejriwal said in an address on Saturday that after the formation of an AAP government in Gujarat, every panchayat will be given a fund of ₹10 lakh directly from the state government for development work. He said that a sarpanch will be paid a monthly salary of ₹10,000 after his party comes to power in Gujarat.
“Today the whole of Gujarat is demanding change. We have won elections in Delhi; Got 28 seats for the first time, the government was formed and the people were happy with us, they gave us 67 seats next time. After that they gave us 63 seats. Even if elections are held today, we will have more than 65 seats in Delhi because people are happy with us. While Gujarat has been ruled by the BJP for 27 years, the public is angry with the BJP now...The people of Gujarat are seeing that good work has been done in Delhi, good work has started in Punjab too, so, now people in Gujarat are also asking for change,” said Kejriwal.
