People in Gujarat yearning for change, supported AAP in local body polls: Kejriwal

The Aam Aadmi Party's (AAP) victory in Gujarat's Narmada district panchayat election marks a significant shift in the state's politics, offering an alternative to the BJP and Congress.

Aam Aadmi Party leader Arvind Kejriwal said on Monday that the party's victory in the recent Narmada district panchayat election in Gujarat reflects the people's yearning for a change in government.

He said the AAP had the people's mandate as an alternative to the BJP and Congress in the 2027 assembly elections.

The AAP won the Narmada district panchayat and 12 taluka panchayats for the first time in Gujarat during local body polls held last month.

''For the past 75 years,whether at the state or district level, only Congress or the BJP have formed governments in Gujarat. People used to say that a third party had no place here. However, for the first time, the people of Gujarat have elected AAP to power,'' Kajriwal said during a roadshow in Rapipla in the tribal-dominated Narmada district.

He was flanked by AAP MLA Chaitar Vasava, newly-elected Narmada district president Anjana Vasava, and vice president Sangeeta Tadvi.

The former Delhi chief minister said the AAP's victory showed that the people of Gujarat are yearning for change.

''The spark ignited by the people of this tribal region in Narmada district will now spread across Gujarat, and in 2027, the AAP will form a government,'' he said.

Kejriwal said the party's victory in the Narmada district panchayat was ''nothing short of a revolution,'' as for over three decades, people have endured the BJP's corruption, oppression, and atrocities in the absence of an alternative.

''The BJP and the Congress act in collusion,'' Kajriwal said, accusing the two parties of helping each other and supporting each other whenever needed.

He said a deep sense of ''brotherhood'' prevails between the two parties, which are in collusion to loot Gujarat.

''Only the AAP is fighting for the people. When it comes to facing imprisonment, Congress leaders never go to jail. On the contrary, Chaitar Vasava (AAP MLA from Dediapada in Narmada district who is out on bail in an attempt to murder case), faces jail,'' Kejriwal said.

The AAP national convener said the Adivasi community has delivered a tight slap across the BJP's face in Narmada district polls, angered by Vasava's incarceration.

He said the AAP must perform excellently, work honestly, and uphold the people's trust.

AAP leader Manoj Sorsthiya told mediapersons that it is for the first time in Gujarat's political history, where power alternated between the BJP and Congress, that a third party, AAP, has captured a district panchayat.

In the recently-concluded local body elections, the people of Gujarat elected more than 600 AAP candidates, and AAP also won many taluka panchayats, he said.