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The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP)'s jhaadu yatra, which aimed at creating awareness of the party's functioning in Gujarat, culminated on a high note with memberships nearing close to 500,000.
Held between January 26 and January 30, the jhaadu yatra saw processions being taken out by party members, volunteers and representatives across the state's 26 Lok Sabha constituencies.
According to senior party leaders, the processions were taken out to raise awareness on the issues being addressed by AAP in Gujarat. The party culminated the five day procession near Mahatma Mandir at Gandhinagar which saw party members and representatives from across the state gathering at the location.
Moreover, apart from AAP witnessing a rise in memberships from across the state, the party also saw leadership from among common men rising to the occasion.
"A new kind of leadership seems to be emerging at the end of the jhaadu yatra. The processions were led by common people who didn't have any political experience in the past. Rarely did the party leaders lead these processions," said Sukhdev Patel, Gujarat convenor of AAP.
According to another senior state AAP leader Aniruddh Jadeja, some of the names emerging as leaders from various parts of Gujarat included Nathalal Sukhadia, Kishorebhai Desai, Anup Sharma and Pitambar Parmar. "These new rung of leaders have been playing a leading role in the North, South, Central and Saurashtra regions of Gujarat," said Jadeja. However, Jadeja declined to comment on the names of potential candidates emerging for the upcoming general elections.
"The final names of candidates of Gujarat's Lok Sabha constituencies will be announced by the Parliamentary Affairs Committee (PAC) at the Delhi head office," Jadeja added.
Gathering at Gandhinagar, the last leg of the jhaadu yatra saw party leaders reiterating issues that the party has been raising within the state.
"We have been talking about and will continue to do so on issues such as corruption, delay in projects by the administration, weak and delayed implementation of Lokayukta. Moreover, while on one hand the state of education and health in Gujarat is deteriorating, its debt is rising continually on the other hand," said Patel.
The party has also been debating on the state's claims of being power plenty. "Just because the state is power plenty doesn't mean the tariffs have to be exorbitantly high. We have been demanding a cut in power tariff in Gujarat, the way other states have done," Patel added.
Earlier, taking a dig at the recently concluded National Education Summit held at Gandhinagar recently, Patel had stated that while on one hand the Gujarat government was spending tax payers' money on hosting big events on education, there were basic amenities like drinking water and toilet lacking in primary schools of Gujarat on the other.
Citing the recent District Information System for Education (DISE) report prepared by National University of Education Planning and Administration (NEUPA), Patel had said that while big events were being conducted in Gujarat wherein "superficial development of education is highlighted", the recent NEUPA report had shown a fall in Gujarat's rank in primary level education from 12th to 28th position.
