Ahmedabad: Aam Aadmi Party’s national convener Arvind Kejriwal said on Thursday that his party no longer has an alliance with the Congress, accusing it of helping the ruling BJP in Gujarat.
The Congress-led INDIA (Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance) grouping of opposition parties was meant only for the Lok Sabha elections last year, he said.
Addressing a press conference here, the former Delhi chief minister said his party will fight the 2027 Gujarat assembly elections and emerge victorious as people of the state now have an option other than the BJP and Congress.
“We have no alliance with Congress. If there was any alliance, why did they contest the bypoll in Visavadar? They came to defeat us. The BJP had sent the Congress to defeat AAP by cutting our votes.
“When Congress failed, the BJP even reprimanded them. The INDIA bloc was only for the Lok Sabha polls. Now there is no alliance from our side,” said Kejriwal.
AAP leader Gopal Italia won the bypoll to the Visavadar seat in Junagadh district last month by defeating BJP’s Kirit Patel by a margin of over 17,000 votes. Congress nominee Nitin Ranpariya stood in the third spot with 5,501 votes.
Kejriwal claimed that the BJP has ruined Gujarat in its 30-year rule. The Congress has failed as an opposition because it helps the BJP retain power, he said.
“Be it farmers, youths or the middle class, every section of society is unhappy with the BJP. Despite unemployment, more than half of the posts are lying vacant, and jobs are given only on a contract basis. Despite that, the BJP has been winning elections because people did not have any option,” said Kejriwal.
“People used to say that ‘we want to defeat the BJP, but whom should we vote for?’ Everyone knows that the Congress is in their pocket. In a way, a contract has been given to the Congress to help the BJP win every election. And Congress does its work very well,” said Kejriwal.
After the Visavadar bypoll, AAP has emerged as a strong alternative to both these parties, and people are banking their hopes on his party, said Kejriwal.
To “dethrone” the BJP, AAP cadres will campaign vigorously in Gujarat and go door-to-door for the next two and a half years to convince people ahead of the 2027 assembly polls, he said.
“From today, we are starting ‘Gujarat Jodo Abhiyan’, under which people can join AAP by giving a missed call to our number. Our workers will also visit each and every house. AAP is a party of youths. I appeal to the youths, who want a corruption-free Gujarat, to join us in large numbers,” he added.
In the 182-member Gujarat assembly, the BJP has 162 MLAs, Congress 12 and AAP 5. While one seat is with the Samajwadi Party, two legislators are independents.
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