SURAT: Gujarat BJP president CR Paatil on Saturday targeted Delhi Chief Minister and AAP national convener Arvind Kejriwal and called him a "mahathug" trying to woo voters in Gujarat with promises of freebies, and asserted that such offers will not get him votes in the state.
Without naming Kejriwal, Paatil said some political leaders, when polls are near, start flocking to the state like "a frog in the monsoon".
Polls in Gujarat are likely to be held in December, and the Aam Aadmi Party is gearing up to replace the Congress as the man challenger to the BJP, which has been ruling the state for the past 27 years.
Kerjriwal had recently held a rally in Bharuch district of south Gujarat, and had also participated in a roadshow with party colleague and Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann in Ahmedabad.
"When elections near, leaders of some political parties flock to Gujarat like a frog in the monsoon. When he wears a muffler, it means winter has arrived in Delhi. This man is not a 'thag (conman)' but a mahathug," Paatil said while addressing BJP workers at Kadodara during the ruling party's 'One Day One District' programme.
"He (Kejriwal) tries to offer freebies in the state. I have said this in public before and will say it again that Gujarat has its own culture. There is a specialty of Gujaratis. They extend hands to give and not take.(Gujaratis) do not like freebies. Making them a free offer will not get you votes," the Navsari Lok Sabha member said.
Paatil hailed the BJP for its administration, adding that Gujarat was spared power cuts even as some states faced outages.
Calling BJP workers as soldiers moving with determination towards the target of 2022 (Assembly polls), Paatil said "no one has the strength to stop the Ashwamegh Yajna of Prime Minister Narendra Modi".
The Gujarat unit of AAP reacted to Paatil's comment on freebies by calling it an "insult to the people of Gujarat."
"You have no issue getting free electricity bill, petrol allowance, phone bill, medical facilities from the tax money of the people of Gujarat. But you feel the pain when someone talks about offering freebies to the people from their own tax money. You should apologise to the people of Gujarat," AAP leader Isudan Gadhvi said.