They jailed me … remove your fear to bring change in Gujarat: Kejriwal to party workers

He cited the examples of AAP Gujarat leaders such as Pravin Ram and Raju Karpada who are in jail and Chaitar Vasava who has been jailed a number of times by the BJP government. He said that Ram and Karpada will come out of jail soon.

The former Delhi Chief Minister said, “These people had jailed me. I stayed in jail for six months. There is no need to be scared of jail.”

He also cited instances of national AAP leaders like Sanjay Singh, Satyender Jain and Manish Sisodiya who were jailed in Delhi. “We did not commit theft. False cases were imposed on us. They thought that by sending top leaders of AAP (to jail), the party would break down. AAP has not broken down and it will now bring a change of power in Gujarat,” he said.

Kejriwal said that as the Assembly elections come closer, the ruling BJP will bring in agencies like Enforcement Directorate, Central Bureau of Investigation and police to jail people. “If all of us are ready to go to jail, nobody can stop the change of power in Gujarat,” he said.

Change of venue

The AAP convention was scheduled to take place at a private party plot in the Nikol area of Ahmedabad. However, the party changed the venue to a farm in Loderiyal village of Sanand after the owner of the plot ‘withdrew’ permission for the function allegedly following “pressure from the ruling BJP”.

Gujarat BJP president Jagdish Vishvakarma is an MLA from Nikol constituency.

Speaking on the change of venue for the convention at a press conference, AAP MLA Gopal Italia alleged that the ruling BJP was behind the development. Quoting Italia, a party release stated, “All preparations for this programme (in Nikol) were completed nearly 20 to 25 days in advance. A private party plot was booked for the programme, the police were informed in advance, and all arrangements including sound systems and chairs were finalised. However, at the last moment, due to threats and pressure exerted by BJP members on the owner of the party plot, the programme was forced to be cancelled.”

Chief spokesperson of Gujarat AAP Karan Barot said that the owner of the party plot in Nikol withdrew permission for the venue for the AAP event.

The convention was attended by top leaders of Gujarat AAP such as Gopal Rai, Isudan Gadhvi, Sagar Rabari, Manoj Sorathiya, Gopal Italia and others.

When asked about the AAP allegations, Gujarat BJP spokesperson Anil Patel said, “We are not reacting to AAP.”