U-Turn On Foundation Day: Arvind Kejriwal Bats For Congress In Gujarat, Says ‘Motto Is To Beat BJP’

On his party’s fifth foundation anniversary on Sunday, 26 November, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Arvind Kejriwal asked the people of Gujarat to “vote for the candidate or party that can defeat the Bharatiya Janata Party.”

However, ironically, the only party that comes close to Kejriwal’s description is the Congress, the ruling party a few years back in New Delhi, which he sought to dislodge by forming his own political outfit.

Things seem to have taken a 180-degree turn since then, and Kejriwal seems to have moved from an anti-corruption to a purely anti-BJP plank.

“If somewhere the AAP is winning, then give your vote for AAP. If any other party is winning, give the vote to them. But defeat the BJP,” Kejriwal said. “Our motto is to beat BJP,” the Delhi Chief Minister added.

AAP held it’s five-year anniversary celebrations in Delhi’s Ramlila Maidan, the place where the anti-corruption movement started with Anna Hazare at its helm. But five years on, several of the movement’s founding members were missing. Having been against AAP’s formation since the beginning, Anna had recently criticised Kejriwal after AAP’s losses in Punjab and Goa.

The AAP had earlier announced its intention to contest the Gujarat assembly elections, but has so far announced candidates in just 20 of the 182 constituencies, as reported by NDTV. However, after losses in by-polls and civic body elections in Delhi, the AAP Gujarat campaign has lost momentum with AAP’s Gujarat in-charge Gopal Rai admitting that the outfit lacks grassroots support in Gujarat.

Arvind Kejriwal had been in the news recently for his rift with the Congress Chief Minister of Punjab, Amarinder Singh, over the skyrocketing pollution in New Delhi.