AAP’s Friday roadshow was a surge of yellow just before Gujarat wakes up to the second phase of elections on Dec 5. The party clearly knows its colour. But what is does even better is emerging winner. As Punjab CM Bhagwant Mann put it: “We do not align ourselves with any survey or poll outcome predictions. We form the government.”
He was speaking during the campaigning for the second phase of Gujarat Assembly elections. Mann joined the road show at Bhiloda in Aravalli, Eider, Himmatnagar and Prantij in Sabarkantha. Reiterating his stance, he reminded the public how no analysis could predict that AAP was to helm the government in Punjab. “Neither could any survey map trends that AAP would notch 67 seats in Delhi. The BJP has been in Gujarat for 27 years. Surveys might predict the pattern but AAP is giving you the choice to change for the better,” he boomed from the dais at Bhiloda.
He went on to remind people that unlike other parties which hand out empty promises before elections, AAP does what it assures. “Electricity has been made free in Delhi. Likewise in Punjab. Even as the Opposition continues to question the source of free electricity, rubbishes mohalla clinics and downplays Delhi’s government schools, AAP has been working towards social uplift. We just want that one chance to make electricity free for Gujarat, that one opportunity to open the doors of world class education for Gujarat’s children,” he added.
CM Mann also showed a pile of papers which, he claimed were “…25,000 electricity bills from Punjab. We have 75 lakh unit reading meters, of which, 61 lakh households have received zero electricity bills ever since AAp came to power. By January, we aim to make it to 71 lakh households. We do what we say and we say what we can.”
Pointing at the pothole menace in Gujarat, he noted the sorry state of roads in towns such as Khedbrahma, Limdi and Balasinor. “In the tribal belt, I asked how many times did your elected BJP representative come to take stock of what is required? To my dismay, the people answered never and neither did the MLA come to campaign for votes.”
The AAP surely has made a formidable display of its presence and such roadshows only prove the party’s fast gaining visibility. Harping on the mohalla clinics and schools, Mann reasoned that the BJP gains in keeping the youth unemployed and poorly educated. “Quality education makes all the difference. BJP thrives on keeping the public hooked on communal talk while making sure that its vote-bank does not qualify itself with informed discretion,” he added.
Lauding Arvind Kejriwal, Mann stated that “hospitals, schools and progress” feature prominently in AAP’s track record. But when the BJP assumes the mic at any rally, all they talk about is “religion, castes and failings of their opponents.”
“We set up 100 mohalla clinics by August 15. Our next milestone is 500 such healthcare centers by January 26. AAP won 92 of 117 seats in Punjab. About 82 of the 92 MLAs are from ordinary backgrounds. Who could have ever thought that an ordinary comedian will become Punjab’s CM? But with Kejriwalji and AAP, the change is always for the better,” he clinched the argument in favor of AAP during the road show.
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