AAP alleges BJP-led Gujarat govt blocked Kejriwal’s event in Ahmedabad

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Sunday alleged that the BJP-led Gujarat government blocked its event in Ahmedabad during party national convener Arvind Kejriwal’s three-day visit to the state, triggering a political controversy.

AAP leader Gopal Italia alleged that the state government had cancelled a Kejriwal-planned programme and revoked permission for the location of an oath-taking ceremony and workers’ conference.

In addition, he also stated that the police came to the venue late at night, threatened the owner, and made the party relocate the event.

Italia alleged that the BJP was rattled by the AAP’s growing popularity in Gujarat and accused the state government of deliberately disrupting the programme during Kejriwal’s visit.

Kejriwal, who is on a three-day tour of the state, also slammed the BJP, accusing it of misgovernance over the last three decades.

“For the last 30 years, the BJP has been ruling Gujarat. In these 30 years, the BJP pushed Gujarat into a ditch. There is fear and corruption everywhere. They scare and threaten people who raise their voices against them, against injustice; they are jailed. They do corruption openly. Nobody can raise a voice against their corruption,” Kejriwal said.

He claimed that people across Gujarat were increasingly looking towards the AAP with hope and said the party had witnessed strong public participation in recent months.

“People are looking at AAP with great hope. In the last six to seven months, AAP has been conducting rallies across the entire state of Gujarat. People are turning up in large numbers. We do not even have money; ours is a poor party. But people are coming to AAP rallies at their own expense,” he said.

Kejriwal said he would interact with party volunteers during his visit and work out future strategies. The AAP maintained that despite the alleged hurdles, it would continue its outreach programmes in Gujarat during the visit.