Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) convener Arvind Kejriwal on Sunday announced that Gujarat’s Dediapada MLA Chaitar Vasava, who is currently in jail, would be the party’s candidate for the Bharuch seat in the upcoming Lok Sabha polls. Kejriwal declared that Vasava would contest the Bharuch Lok Sabha seat even while being incarcerated.

The Delhi chief minister, while addressing a rally in the tribal dominated Netrang region of Bharuch along with Punjab chief minister Bhagwant Mann, claimed that Vasava was arrested last month as he was fighting for the rights of the tribal community.

“The BJP has ruled Gujarat for 30 years. However, it always neglected the Adivasi community. Vasava spoke up because the BJP failed them,” Kejriwal said in his speech.

He added, “The BJP harbors animosity towards the tribal community from the start. Another 30 years under BJP rule, and it will devastate the tribal community.”

The Delhi CM said he along with the Punjab CM and state AAP leaders will meet Vasava in Rajpipla jail on Monday.

“This is not a fight for Chaitar Vasava, but for the honour of the entire adivasi community,” he said.

After being on a run for almost one month, Dediapada MLA and AAP’s state working president, Chaitar Vasava, surrendered on December 14, 2023, leading to his arrest. The charges against him involve allegedly threatening forest officers and firing shots in the air while attempting to address a dispute related to the cultivation of forest land by local tribals in Narmada district.

His wife was also arrested in the case.

Kejriwal claimed tribal leader Vasava was lured with crores of rupees and a ministerial post in the government if he switched over to the BJP, which the AAP MLA refused because he cannot betray his own community.

Vasava is among the five AAP MLAs elected in the 2022 Gujarat assembly elections. One of them, Bhupendra Bhayani, who represented the Visavadar constituency, resigned on December 12, 2023.

Kejriwal alleged that the BJP, fearing Vasava, was attempting to suppress him to send a message to the community that dissent would be crushed.

Gujarat BJP spokesperson Yamal Vyas said the AAP has become irrelevant in Gujarat and their dismal performance in the 2022 Gujarat elections exposed it.

“First they lost their relevance in Gujarat and now they are losing it everywhere, hence their leaders are making baseless statements. The people of Gujarat have seen through their true colours. Kejriwal avoids addressing the corruption charges against him — a notable omission in his discussions. Kejriwal declared Vasava as their candidate for the 2024 elections in Bharuch. But did they check with the Congress and others in the INDIA bloc? Is the AAP still a part of the alliance or not? Also, why isn’t Kejriwal addressing the corruption charges against him?” he said.