Ahmedabad: The Aam Aadmi Party on Wednesday announced a major reshuffle in its Gujarat unit as it appointed Isudan Gadhvi as its state unit president, replacing Gopal Italia, who was appointed the party’s national joint secretary and co-in-charge of Maharashtra. Gadhvi was the party’s chief ministerial face in the Gujarat assembly elections held last month. The reshuffle comes nearly a month after the results of the state assembly election were declared on December 8, in which the AAP bagged five seats while all its top leaders, including Gadhvi and Italia, faced defeat.
The party appointed working presidents for six regions in the state – Ramesh Patel (North), Chaitar Vasava (South), Jewel Vasra (Central), Jagmal Vala (Saurashtra), Kailash Gadhvi (Kutch) and Alpesh Kathiria (Surat). it said in a release.
The Arvind Kejriwal-led AAP contested 181 of Gujarat’s total 182 assembly seats, but could win only five, despite claiming to be the main rival to the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which secured 156 seats, Recorded historic victory.
Gadhvi had to face defeat on the Khambhalia seat and Italy had to face defeat from Katargam. While all its top leaders including Italia and Gadhvi lost the election, AAP managed to garner 12.6 per cent votes.
Four of its candidates won in Saurashtra region and one in a tribal seat in South Gujarat. The winners include Umesh Makwana from Botad, Chaitar Vasava from Dediapada (tribal), Sudhir Vaghani from Gariadhar, Hemant Khawa from Jamjodhpur and Bhupat Bhayani from Visavadar.