Bhupendra Patel a puppet CM, can’t even appoint his peon: Arvind Kejriwal

“There are two faces before the people of Gujarat. One is Isudan Gadhvi and the other is Bhupendra Patel. Who will you vote for, who will you make chief minister?” Kejriwal asked. Gadhvi is a young, educated man “whose heart beats for the poor” and he is also the son of a farmer, the Delhi chief minister said.

“On the other hand, there is Bhupendra Patel. He has no power, he is a ‘kathputli’ (puppet) CM. He cannot even change his peon. He is a good man. I have heard that he is very religious. But nobody listens to him,” the AAP leader said.

He compared the relationship between the BJP and Congress to that between a “boy and a girl who meet secretly before marriage”. “When you ask them, they will say there is nothing but friendship between them. Similarly, when you ask them (Congress and BJP), they will say there is nothing but friendship between us. I am telling them that this is enough, they are exposed now,” he said.

The AAP chief also held a roadshow in the Patidar dominated areas of Kamrej, Varachha, Karanj, Olpad and Katargam.

Kejriwal was accompanied by AAP Varachha candidate and PAAS convenor Alpesh Katheriya, Olpad candidate Dharmik Malaviya, Karanj candidate Manoj Sorathiya, Katargam candidate and state AAP president Gopal Italia amnd Kamrej candidate Ram Dhaduk.

After the day-long roadshow in the city, Kejriwal and Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann Tuesday night addressed a public meeting in the Katargam constituency.
Addressing the gathering, Kejriwal said, “The Gujarat people are fed up of the old double engine government which runs on coal. A latest power run engine has come into the market,which the people of Gujarat wants.”

Kejriwal requested people stream the event live on Facebook so that it reaches a large number of people, as the mediapersons are not allowed to show the public meetings of AAP, due to “the pressure from BJP leaders”.

He said, “The news channels are not inviting AAP leaders in debates. The reason is that BJP leaders have told the channel anchors that if AAP leaders comes in the debate, then they will not come. The actual reason is that they are afraid of AAP leaders and they have to give explanations for the works done in the last 27 years.”

On the Morbi bridge tragedy, Kejriwal said that owner of the firm who had been given the contract of maintenance and repairing work is still roaming freely and no action has been taken against him.

Meanwhile, a minor clash took place between AAP workers and police, after the former stopped the Surat Municipal Corporation authorities, who were removing hoardings from places where public meetings are held. However, the situation was brought under control by the police.

(with PTI)