Kejriwal, Mann set to visit state to back Chaitar after his arrest

AAP’s national general secretary (organisation) and in-charge of Gujarat, Pathak was in Ahmedabad on Tuesday for a day-long visit to preside over the party’s review meeting with state leaders and AAP MLAs ahead of the Lok Sabha election due next year.

The AAP plans to contest the election as part of the INDIA alliance, Pathak reiterated while refusing to give further details on seat-sharing plans.

Addressing a press conference in Ahmedabad, Pathak announced that Kejriwal and Mann are scheduled to be present at a public address in Dediapada. “The main objective for organising this public address is to provide moral support to people, (AAP) workers and volunteers there (in Dediapada)…Chaitarbhai is very popular and if BJP starts losing, it will start from Chaitarbhai’s seat…You’ll see now that whoever asks questions of Narendra Modi or the BJP or raises their voices against them, they either suspend them or arrest them.”

He further added, “This situation is prevailing all over the country and the public thinks that democracy will end this way. You can take Chaitarbhai’s example itself. BJP feels that in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections, Chaitarbhai can be a problem for them so they have decided to remove him altogether from the field of electoral contest…BJP was elected again with a majority in Gujarat and yet the issues persist as before. Be it unemployment, farmers’ conditions, or even drugs…Drugs are being seized in large quantities at Gujarat’s port.

This is not a political issue, it is a social issue because if drugs are supplied in a region with unemployment then in the coming times the youth will be caught in this drug trap…Has BJP worked on any of the issues Gujarat is suffering from since winning? They don’t work, nor do they want to… all they want is to win elections.”
When asked about the defection of Visavadar MLA Bhupat Bhayani to Congress, Pathak said that AAP will “again win” the seat in the bypolls.