The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has named 130 candidates for the Gujarat Assembly Elections. The voting for the 182 seats of the state assembly will be held in two phases, on December 1 and December 5. The Arvind Kejriwal-led party has declared former TV anchor Isudan Gadhvi as its chief ministerial candidate in the BJP stronghold.
Here's a 5-point guide on the AAP leader:
– Isudan Gadhvi, 40, belongs to Pipaliya village in the Devbhumi Dwarka district. He has a degree in journalism from the Gujarat Vidyapith in Ahmedabad and started his career as a journalist with a local news channel around 17 years ago.
– Mr Gadhvi worked in the popular Doordarshan show called ‘Yojana' and then joined ETV Gujarati as an on-field journalist in Porbandar, working from 2007 to 2011. He later joined VTV Gujarati in 2015 and became the youngest channel head in Gujarati media.
– The journalist-turned-politician also anchored a show called ‘Mahamanthan' at VTV Gujarati, which garnered significant popularity among rural masses. The show would highlight issues related to farming and agriculture. As a journalist, he was known for his aggressive style of anchoring and on-screen personality.
– Isudan Gadhvi rose to prominence after exposing a Rs 150 crore scam of illegal deforestation in Gujarat's Dang and Kaparada talukas on his news shows. This had forced the Gujarat government to take action.
– Mr Gadhvi belongs to the Other Backward Class (OBC) community. He joined AAP in June 2021 when Arvind Kejriwal was in Ahmedabad to inaugurate the party's state headquarters. Isudan Gadhvi received 73% votes in a poll conducted by the party and was named the chief ministerial candidate for the Gujarat polls.
