Gujarat Assembly Elections: Why is the BJP in power in Gujarat for 27 years taking 'AAP' seriously?
Delhi Chief Minister and Aam Aadmi Party National Coordinator Arvind Kejriwal has been moving around Gujarat continuously for the past six months.
With the Gujarat assembly elections now a few months away, the movement of political leaders in the state has increased.
Delhi Chief Minister and Aam Aadmi Party National Coordinator Arvind Kejriwal has been moving around Gujarat continuously for the past six months.
Sometimes he has visited the state two or three times in a single month. Similarly, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah are also visiting Gujarat frequently.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi may also take time out of his ‘Join India’ journey to come to Gujarat.
It is to be noted that the assembly elections are going to be held in Gujarat in the next few days and these visits are being seen as the beginning of the election campaign by the political parties.
Seven months ago, a question was raised about AAP, which is seen as a contender in Gujarat politics, whether people will take it seriously in Gujarat politics?
Because its image is that of an urban party and it had no organization in the interior districts and villages of Gujarat. However, now its organization seems to be expanding. Apart from cities, party rallies, meetings are also held in hinterlands.
BBC Gujarati spoke to some experts about this and tried to find out whether the party, which was once considered a newcomer, is really strengthening its hold in Gujarat’s politics.
Dilip Gohil, a senior Gujarat journalist living in Ahmedabad, says, “Even if you are the BJP’s B team, the BJP cannot afford its current activity in Gujarat.”
“In that sense, I don’t think A B team anymore. You will hurt the Congress first, but if you get more than one margin of votes, it will also hurt the BJP.”
“BJP initially felt that if you are active in Gujarat, you can win very easily. However, what is worrying for BJP now is that you have gone further than expected in a short period of time.”
“BJP is afraid that apart from Congress, BJP will also have to calculate. BJP will now have to calculate how much loss can be caused by AAP per seat. Earlier, BJP did not have such an estimate.
