Gujarat elections: AAP declares Isudhan Gadhvi as its CM candidate
Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has declared Isudhan Gadhvi (40) as its chief ministerial candidate for the upcoming Gujarat elections. AAP's national convenor and Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal announced his name on Friday afternoon. Earlier, Gadhvi said that the Prime Minister Narendra Modi should help AAP in forming a government in Gujarat and that workers of BJP's Gujarat unit were defaming Modi, reported ABP News.
Why does this story matter?
After a surprising win in Punjab earlier this year, the AAP is riding on high hopes. The AAP is looking at expanding beyond making inroads into Gujarat — PM Modi's home state — in a supposed move to challenge BJP's nationwide hegemony and emerge as an alternative. The party has made a number of pre-election promises, including free electricity, improved healthcare, and better education.
Kejriwal made the announcement in Ahmedabad
Received 73% votes in opinion poll
Kejriwal said Gadhvi was chosen as the CM candidate based on their opinion poll in which he received 73% votes out of 16,48,000 responses, pipping AAP's Gujarat unit chief Gopal Italia. Gadhvi is AAP's national joint secretary and belongs to the Other Backward Castes (OBC) category. He was born in 1982 to a middle-class agrarian family in Pipliya village of Dwarka district.
Former journalist, exposed Rs. 150 crore illegal deforestation scam
Gadhvi is a former journalist and is known for exposing an Rs. 150 crore scam of illegal deforestation in Dang district and Kaparada taluka of Valsad district. He worked as a field reporter in Porbandar for ETV Gujarati from 2007 to 2011. Later, he joined VTV News where he hosted a popular prime-time show called Mahamanthan. He joined AAP in June 2021.
