AHMEDABAD: The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Wednesday released its third list of 10 candidates for
the Gujarat Assembly elections in which the names of the candidates for the three tribal constituencies were announced. This clear indicated that there is no longer any alliance between AAP and the Bharatiya Tribal Party (BTP) in Gujarat.
AAP announced three tribal candidates’ names in its list of 10, which includes Arvind Gamit for Nizar in Tapi district, Bipin Gameti from Khedbrahma seat in Sabarkantha, and former BTP leader Praful Vasava as a candidate for Nandod seat in Narmada district.
The news of ending alliance between AAP and BTP was first reported by The New Indian Express on September 01, "In which AAP said that we have no alliance with BTP. While BTP’s national president Mahesh Vasava claimed that we allied and we are waiting.”
Talking to The New Indian Express AAP Spoke Person Yogesh Jadvani said “If we do not have a coalition, then where does the talk of ticket distribution come from? We only held discussions with BTP, we never announced an alliance.”
“We are going to contest in 182 seats, if BTP wants to discuss tribal issues with us, they are welcome to, they can campaign with us if they want, we don't mind campaigning with them, but we don't have any alliance right now with anyone,” said Jadvani.
The AAP has given a ticket to its Gujarat unit treasurer and former Congress leader Kailash Gadhvi from the Mandvi Assembly seat in the Kutch district. The party has selected Dinesh Kapadia as its candidate for the Danilimda seat in Ahmedabad and Ramesh Patel for Deesa seat in Banaskantha.
Social activist and former BTP leader Praful Vasava, known for fighting for tribals affected by the Sardar Sarovar Dam project, has been nominated for the Nandod seat in the Narmada district.
Lalesh Thakkar has been chosen for the Patan seat, Kalpesh Patel for the Vejalpur seat in Ahmedabad, and Arvind Gamit for the Nizar seat in the Tapi district. Vijay Chavda has been given a ticket from Savli seat in Vadodara and Bipin Gameti from Khedbrahma seat in Sabarkantha. Jeevan Jungi, a local leader of the fishermen'scommunity has been selected to contest from the Porbandar seat in the Saurashtra region.
The Arvind Kejriwal-led AAP had earlier announced 19 candidates for polls to the 182-member Assembly in BJP-ruled Gujarat. No other party has so far declared its candidates for the state elections due in December.