Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal will not visit Gujarat in July as the BJP government in the State allegedly forced a Surat university to cancel the booking of a hall where he was to attend an event on the invitation of a group of local traders, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) claimed.
The AAP national convenor would, however, address an independent rally there in September, after being “forced” to axe his two-day visit, which was earlier scheduled from July 9 to July 10, and included his tour of Somnath in the Saurashtra region.
The party claims the Gujarat Chief Minister's Office directed the Veer Narmad South Gujarat University in Surat to cancel a hall booked by it due to “political vendetta” a move which, according to the party, “showed that the State government fears Arvind Kejriwal”.
AAP’s plans to expand
The Gujarat Assembly elections are scheduled to be held in 2017 and AAP has recently announced that it would be contesting these in addition to Goa and Punjab.
Mr. Kejriwal was expected to make a public announcement about the decision on a visit to various locations including Somnath and Surat in mid-July, according to a party source.
The party, which claims it had enrolled over a lakh members and “thousands of supporters”, was more than confident of strengthening its foothold among the electorate in the run-up to the polls.
