The Indian Express | 2 weeks ago | 17-01-2023 | 10:45 pm
Isudan Gadhvi formally took over as the new president of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP)’s Gujarat unit at the party headquarters in Ahmedabad Monday.In his first interview after taking charge, Gadhvi, who was the AAP’s chief ministerial candidate in the recent Gujarat Assembly polls in which the party won just 5 of the total 182 seats, speaks to The Indian Express about a range of issues including the AAP’s shortcomings, its future road map and the coming elections.What were the AAP’s shortcomings you noted while campaigning for the Gujarat Assembly polls, especially in your seat Khambhaliya that you lost?The atmosphere was good. But there were one or two drawbacks in our organisation at the booth level, for which we did not get time (to fix). We got people, but there was a problem in execution. Secondly, we have performed really well: Historically, no third front in Gujarat has got five seats and 41 lakhs votes. But we had little time… and people were confused till the end as to whether AAP will be able to form the government or not… And this has been the history of the AAP. Even in Delhi, in the first election, people were not sure, so the AAP government was not formed, it had to form a coalition. But second time, it was one-sided (AAP formed the government with full majority). In Punjab too (a similar thing happened in the second time), although it was predicted in the first election that the party would get 100 seats, which did not happen… Now people in Gujarat are thinking that if they (AAP) are taking these many seats (five), then we could have voted for them.So what you are saying is that people were confused till the last moment in the Gujarat polls, which is why they voted for the BJP for its thumping victory?Yes, in the surveys that we conducted, it came out that AAP and BJP will get 36% and 37% of vote share respectively. But, the 15-20% of the vote share that we were getting went to the BJP at the last moment. Secondly, people did not trust the Congress, so at the last moment, those 15-20% who were confused, they voted for the BJP.Do you see the 2024 Lok Sabha elections as a stepping stone for the 2027 Gujarat Assembly polls? Or is the party focused on the Lok Sabha polls in a bid to emerge at the national level?Every election is a challenge for us. Municipality, taluka, zilla (district) panchayat, municipal corporation elections are coming… For 2024, the new strategy is the organisation that we are forming now – we will form vote samitis and samitis at the booth, village and city levels. When there will be six months left for the Lok Sabha polls, we will appoint in-charge in each of the state’s 26 Lok Sabha constituencies. We will try to look for good candidates, who will be connected to the booth level. And the few seats where we can win, we will focus there. In the municipal corporation elections due in 2025, we will win a majority of them. People now know the Congress is not in the picture anymore. So, I think we will perform well in 2024, (but) our main target is 2027.What is the Gujarat AAP’s target for the 2024 Lok Sabha polls?We will be fielding our candidates in all the 26 parliamentary seats. Our focus will be on contesting the 2024 elections with all our strength – till then (the existing) organisational structure will work fine. However, by 2027 polls, our organisation will be fully-formed. Our target is (to win) 2027.What about the AAP’s candidates in the state polls, who withdrew from the fray at the last moment, such as Abdasa and Surat East candidates?Or the buzz about the five party MLAs defecting to the BJP soon after they were elected?The people who come into politics, come with some ambition. Lekin 2025 se mahaul bannana shuru ho jayega, ab toh 2027 mein AAP ke alawa koi hai hi nahi. Toh koi jane ka sawal hi paida nahi hota hai. (But by 2025, an atmosphere will build up in AAP’s favour. By 2027, there would not be any Opposition other than AAP. So, the question of anyone leaving the party would not arise). Secondly, we have time to build the organisation, to find the candidates… So I feel we will manage it well.Did you come across any other issues while campaigning, apart from your manifesto pledges like free electricity, good education, free medical treatment etc, that your party missed flagging for voters. Could they have been more Gujarat specific?Yes, we are assessing that, we will do it by 2025. We are here to serve the people, so we have to give them facilities. We tell them that this is what we are here to give, if you like, take it, otherwise BJP is there. Hum logon ko dara kar dhamka kar vote lena nahi chahate hain. Nahi chahiye aisi sarkar. Hum sarkar lenge, muddon se lenge. Lekin ye baat sahi hai ki janta ko ye appeal honi chahiye ki hum aapke saath hain, sabke saath hain. Hum aapke hain…Wo appeal zaroor jayegi. (We do not want to garner votes by pressuring or scaring people. We do not want such a government. We will form government on the basis of issues. But yes, people should feel that we are with them. That appeal will go to them).
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