AAP names former journalist Isudan Gadhvi as its CM candidate in Gujarat

NEW DELHI: The Aam Aadmi Party on Friday named former TV journalist Isudan Gadhvi as its chief ministerial candidate for the impending Gujarat Assembly polls. Gadhvi, who joined the AAP in June 2021, is also the party's joint general secretary.

Announcing Gadhvi, AAP chief and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said the 40-year-old Gadhvi had received 73 per cent of the votes in a poll conducted by the party.

"Last week we invited public opinion and received 16,48,500 responses and 73 per cent of them named Isudanbhai Gadhvi," Kejriwal said.

Gadhvi was pitted against AAP Gujarat unit chief Gopal Italia, who played a key role in the Patidar community agitation. Gadhvi belongs to a farmer's family from Dwarka district's Pipaliya village and is from the Other Backward Castes (OBC) community, which accounts for 48 per cent of the state's population.

Taking a dig at the Opposition parties, Kejriwal said that the AAP doesn't decide who will be the party’s CM candidate while sitting in a room and added that Bhagwant Mann was chosen as Chief Minister by the people of Punjab, and not by the party.

He claimed that the AAP was not announcing the CM candidate but the next Chief Minister of Gujarat.

Last week, Kejriwal had urged people to give their opinion about who should be the CM candidate from the party in Gujarat through SMS, WhatsApp, voicemail and e-mail.

He had said that people could submit their preferences until November 3 evening and on the basis of their opinions, the name of the party's chief ministerial face would be announced.

Elections to the 182-member Gujarat Assembly will be held in two phases next month, on December 1 and 5. Results will be announced on December 8.