Gujarat polls: Khambhalia seat has turned into a battle of prestige between BJP, AAP

Dwarka (Gujarat) [India], November 25 : The Khambhalia seat of Dwarka district has turned into a battle of prestige between the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Aam Aadmi Party, in the upcoming Gujarat Assembly elections.
With Congress also in the fray with a sitting MLA, it is also a triangular contest. Senior Congress leader Vikram Madam, AAP Chief Minister's face Isudan Gadhvi and BJP candidate Mulu Ayar Bera are fighting it out amongst themselves in the assembly elections.
Speaking to ANI, BJP candidate Mulu Ayar Bera exuded confidence in winning the Khambhalia seat. "We will win in Khambhalia seat, I am continuously travelling and meeting people. People tell me that they made a mistake by electing Congress for the last two terms and that's why development did not happen and the works of development are still stuck. That's why people are now feeling that they should stay with BJP. The Khambhalia seat belongs to BJP only," he said.
Bera further said that AAP is not going to win even four seats in the state.
"Isudan Gadhvi is the CM face of the Aam Aadmi Party from the Khambhalia seat, but the people here are sensible no matter who the candidate is. People know what is the introduction of Gadhvi. I am a local here, I live with the people and I visit the village again and again. Khambhalia knows this, even if I lose the election, I live here among the people and participate in their happiness and sorrow. AAP party is talking of giving free things and has nominated a CM face from this constituency but the people of Khambhalia know that AAP is not going to win even 4 seats in the state, how will they have a CM," said the BJP candidate.
He said that being an MLA and minister he had done a lot of development work for the area.
"I have been an MLA from here four times and have also been a minister in the government, then I did development work. Everyone knows that because of the development work here there are 10 to 12 big irrigation schemes and 20000 hectares of land are getting water in the fields. Earlier there was no university for higher education in Khambhalia and Bharwad. But now people have universities, hospitals and even an ITI college were also built. I did the work of connecting one village to another and the water of Narmada reached here," said Bera.
Speaking on the close fight in the Khambhalia seat between BJP and AAP, Bera said, "Being a local and being familiar with the constituency, are two different things. He doesn't know about the villages here. He is not a local here, he has lived outside for a long time even though his birthplace is this. It is true that here it is a neck-to-neck fight but people are looking for BJP and they will make us win. That's why I don't think anything like this is here and if there was any other candidate, it would have been more beneficial."
He said that the Congress MLA who was elected from here 5 years ago did not fulfil the promise made to the people.
Meanwhile, Aam Aadmi Party's CM candidate Isudan Gadhvi said that the people of Gujarat want the AAP leader as a chief minister.
Isudan Gadhvi belongs to Khambalia. He is a resident of Piplia village and belongs to the backward class. He was a journalist before joining politics. Gadhvi is facing a triangular contest from Khambhalia's seat.
"I am a simple common man, a farmer's child. In the WhatsApp number given by Arvind Kejriwal ji, lakhs of people had voted for me that our candidate Ishudan Bhai should be Gujarat's CM and because of this, today there is a wave of happiness among the entire farmers. The unemployed youth and the working class are also happy," Gadhvi said.
He further said that BJP has not done anything in 27 years.
"Mulu Ayar Bera and Congress are not even in the picture here because the farmers are united. For the first time, the child of Khambhalia is going to become the Chief Minister. BJP has not done anything in 27 years. Gopal Italia is a simple person, what has BJP done, they are conspiring to hide their mistakes, they have made education junk," said the AAP leader.
Gadhvi further said that the government will be formed with a majority of the common man.
In 2017, the Khambhalia seat was won by Vikram Madam of Congress. He defeated BJP's Kalu Chavda by 11046 votes. This seat came to Congress in the 2014 by-election. Prior to that, from 2007 to 2014, Jam Khambhalia was occupied by the BJP. In such a situation, the reign of BJP and Congress has been running here.
The state has been a BJP stronghold for a long time and the party has set its sights on returning to power for the seventh term. PM Modi has been Gujarat's longest-serving chief minister from 2001 till 2014. However, it faces a stiff electoral challenge from the Arvind Kejriwal-led Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), which has named Isudan Gadhvi as its chief ministerial candidate.
Congress is also hoping to put its best electoral foot forward to unseat the BJP government.
The state of Gujarat which has 182 assembly constituencies will go for polling in two phases on December 1 and 5. The counting of votes will occur on December 8, which coincides with Himachal Pradesh's result date.