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Journalism of Courage
FROM frying samosas and pakodas to dancing to the tunes of the garba, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leaders from Punjab campaigning in Gujarat have tried their hand at everything in their attempt at winning hearts and minds.
A number of Punjab AAP leaders, including Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann and his Cabinet colleagues, have been campaigning in Gujarat ahead of the Assembly elections, starting December 1. Most have taken to door-to-door campaigning. A few others, like Cabinet Minister Kuldeep Singh Dhaliwal, have gone a step further and taken to frying samosas and pakodas and preparing tea for the electorate.
Dhaliwal was seen showing off his culinary skills in a video he uploaded on Twitter. The video was accompanied by a text in Gujarati that can be translated as: “While campaigning in favour of AAP candidate Shri Shivlal Barsia ji in Rajkot South Assembly constituency of Gujarat, he tried to gauge public opinion by making some samosas, pakodas and bhajiyas. This time people have decided Kejriwal government.”
On Thursday, he was seen serving tea to party workers and saying that a cup of tea freshens up, after a long day of hard work.
While Dhaliwal took to frying, Punjab CM Mann has been seen dancing to garba while campaigning in the state. While there is a language barrier for the Punjabi-speaking leaders, most of them are heard raising the slogan in Gujarati: “Ek moko Kejriwal ne (Give an opportunity to Kejriwal).”
The ministers campaigning in Gujarat include Aman Arora, Dr Inderbir Singh Nijjer, Anmol Gagan Mann and Chetan Singh Jouramajra. Most of them are carrying out a personal contact programme with door-to-door campaigns.
Cabinet minister Fauja Singh Sarari, who was recently accused of planning to extort money after an audio clip had gone viral, is also camping in Gujarat. On Thursday, he was campaigning in the Sankhera Assembly segment. He tweeted, “Spent the day amid people of Sankhera. Gujarat is ready to script a new story with every passing day. Gujaratis are eager to teach BJP a lesson. AAP Gujarat has lent a new hope to the state. Gujarat is ready for a coup this time.”
Sarari was issued a notice by Aam Aadmi Party after the audio clip had surfaced. CM Mann had gone on record, saying a notice had been issued to him. However, no action has followed after that and Sarari is back on the campaign trail.
A number of party MLAs have also been sent to Gujarat. Gurpreet Singh Gogi is in Mehsana, campaigning for Dishant Bhai Patel. Ashok Prashar Pappi is also in Gujarat, while Sheetal Angural was in Bhavnagar (West) constituency on Thursday.
While CM Mann has been visiting Gujarat every weekend, he is likely to camp in the state from November 20, even as the Punjab Opposition accuses him of being an absentee CM, despite law and order “deteriorating” back home. With such allegations floating around, the CM has been active in Punjab for the past two days. On Friday, he called a Cabinet meeting, the first in 25 days, and approved the restoration of the Old Pension Scheme (OPS), an electoral promise of the Aam Aadmi Party in both states.
