Auto driver who hosted Kejriwal shifts gear, hops on BJP’s ‘wagon’

She added that her son went for Modi’s rally without any invitation. “If he has time, he goes for such rallies. He got to know about the rally through TV, everyone knew about it. There were few others also who went for the rally from our colony.”

On videos that were doing the rounds on social media Friday, Dantani can be heard saying that he was “with the BJP”. “I have been associated with it for quite long—ever since I have started voting,” he was heard saying, adding that he had invited Kejriwal on “behalf of the union” (Autorickshaw Chalak Ekta Union). “I am not related to the AAP. There was a message in the union’s group that invited us to a meeting of autorickshaw drivers. I just went. I didn’t know anything about it, what was going to happen. I had invited Kejriwal for dinner and had food with him. I was not contacted by anyone (from the AAP) after that. I was told by the union to say whatever I said that day in the meeting,” he can be heard saying.

Dantani’s autorickshaw was parked outside his modest home but sported neither the hood of AAP, BJP or the Congress.

“When Kejriwal had gone to dine at Dantani’s place, there were allegations that the whole gesture was staged. At least now, it is clear that Kejriwal simply respected an auto driver’s request. Dantani himself claims in the videos on social media that he is not associated with AAP. One thing is clear that the BJP leaves no opportunity to slight the AAP. BJP did not work for the past 27 years. Now, they have come down to threaten an auto driver, a common man. They are scared of the AAP in Gujarat,” AAP Gujarat General Secretary Manoj Sorathia said in a video statement.

The party’s Gujarat spokesperson alleged that Ghatlodiya BJP General Secretary Alpesh Patel threatened Dantani saying they would not implement any state government schemes in the area. “There was a lot of pressure by them (BJP workers) to ensure that the dinner does not materialise. (On the day he invited Kejriwal for dinner) Dantani got calls threatening that his electricity and water supply connections would be cut.”

However, refuting the allegations, Alpesh Patel said, “No threat calls were given to Dantani. You can see him smiling in all the videos on social media today and his stance and comments as well. He was ignorant of the fact that it was Kejriwal’s rally. He simply went there thinking it was a meeting of auto chalaks. Dantani never thought that Kejriwal would accept his invitation. The invitation was a sheer gesture of courtesy. He welcomed the Delhi CM and had dinner as per our Gujarati culture. What AAP did was pre-planned, it was staged.”

However, Vasantiben said, “That day, Alpesh Patel asked us why we had invited Kejriwal knowing it is ‘our (BJP’s) area’. We had told him that it was only for dinner. Our neighbours also asked the same, we told them the same”.

Vikram’s neighbour Sunil Dantani said they have been voting for the BJP for the past 15-20 years. “We will do so no matter what, for the sheer love for PM Modi. We do not expect them to do anything for us. No one threatens Vikram, and no one can do so, we are ourselves capable of handling such things, if such a case arises,” he said.

Deepesh Dantani, 45, another resident said, “We did not even know that Vikram had invited Kejriwal. We got to know about it only when we saw police cars in front of our locality gate. We did not question Vikram or his family about this. Inviting someone to dine with the family is a gesture of respect and part of our culture.”