Gujarat elections: AAP has become synonymous with 'parivartan', says Raghav Chadha

AAP's Gujarat election in-charge Raghav Chadha on Saturday said the people of Gujarat are "yearning for a change" and the only force which has become synonymous with "parivartan" in the state is Aam Aadmi Party.

The senior party leader affirmed that the party is confident about winning the upcoming Assembly elections in Gujarat.

He said the AAP has emerged as a "formidable challenger" to the BJP and that the Congress is nowhere in the race.

"There is only one force which has become synonymous with 'Parivartan' and that is Aam Aadmi Party. In order to get rid of the 27-year-old corrupt arrogant regime, people have been looking for an alternative," Chadha told PTI in an interview.

"Congress could not defeat the BJP in 27 years and people think that they are not even participating in the elections this time," he said.

Exuding confidence, he said the party will surpass BJP's vote share in the state.

AAP will be fighting on 181 seats this Assembly election. In 2017 it had fought on 29 seats and clocked less than 0.1 per cent of the total votes.

Reiterating that the "Congress will not get more than five seats in Gujarat", he said the party is no more in the business of fighting elections.

"The Congress will not get more than five to seven seats this time. They are not there in the race anymore," Chadha told PTI.

"Meanwhile, BJP's vote share has been falling at a fast pace. Their vote share was 48 per cent in the 2017 Assembly polls and today, it is 36 per cent," he added.

Earlier, both the BJP and the Congress had asserted that the Kejriwal-led party will remain a marginal player in the Gujarat Assembly polls and that the party has nothing on the ground in the state.

Chadha highlighted electricity, water, health and education as important poll issues.

"The Aam Aadmi party has been speaking about issues like electricity, water, health and education and these are the issues, that neither the BJP, nor the Congress talk about. AAP is the only party that talks about the issues that matter in day-to-day life," he said.

"People in Gujarat are hopeful of the blueprint that Kejriwal has prepared for the state," he told PTI," he added.

Earlier, AAP's Chief Ministerial candidate Isudan Gadhvi had claimed that the party has established its committees of 11-15 persons in each of the nearly 52,000 booths in the state and more than 50 lakh voters have physically collected "guarantees" (manifesto) his party has promised to deliver if elected to power.

The first phase of polling in Gujarat will take place on December 1. The rest of the state will vote on December 5 and counting will take place on December 8.