Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) will visit the election-bound Gujarat on Sunday.
Mann and Kejriwal, who is also the national convenor of AAP, will visit Ahmedabad on Sunday and hold interactions with the youth, sanitation workers and temporary employees of the Gujarat government.
After sweeping Punjab in the assembly elections earlier this year, the AAP is looking forward to making inroads in Gujarat which is expected to have assembly elections earlier this year.
Ahead of the visit, Kejriwal said every section of the society in Gujarat is looking to the Aam Aadmi Party with hope.
"Bhagwant Mann and I will go to Ahmedabad tomorrow. Will interact with youth, safai karmacharis and temporary employees there. Every section of Gujarat considers the Aam Aadmi Party as their hope,” said Kejriwal in a tweet in Hindi on Saturday.
Of late, Kejriwal has started visiting Gujarat every week to lead his party's poll campaigns as well as review and fine-tune his party's poll preparations.
The AAP has also announced sops to people in Gujarat to garner popular support. These promises include monthly allowances for women and self-governance provisions in tribal-populated areas of the state.
The AAP as well as the Congress are looking to embarras the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in upcoming Gujarat elections. Retaining Gujarat is an issue of prestige for the BJP as it's the home state of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Modi was the Chief Minister of Gujarat during 2001-14. It was his popularity during the Gujarat chief ministerial tenure and claims of development in the state during the period that paved the way for him to become prime minsiter.
Like the AAP, the Congress has also announced sops to garner popular support. Congress scion Rahul Gandhi in a rally in Gujarat earlier this month promised free power, affordable cooking gas, and loan waivers for farmers if his party comes to power in the state.
A day before Kejriwal's visit, the AAP alleged that a bulldozer without any notice arrived at a private property in Gujarat's Vadodara where Kejriwal had held a town hall meeting last week. Kejriwal in a tweet called the act "gundagardi".
"The BJP government today has arrived with bulldozer to demolish the property of Navneet Kaka ji who had given us his party hall to talk on Gujarat's children's education. Is country going to be run with such lawlessness? This time, the people of Gujarat will reply to such lawlessness with their vote," said Kejriwal on Twitter in Hindi.
(With PTI inputs)
