A month after the Gujarat Assembly elections results, where the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) had to settle for five seats on its debut in the state, the party on Wednesday announced a revamp of its state unit. In the latest rejig, the party’s chief ministerial candidate in the recent election Isudan Gadhvi replaced Gopal Italia as the state unit president, reported The Indian Express.
Italia, who lost from the Katargam seat in Surat, and served as AAP Gujarat president since December 2020, was appointed as the national general secretary and co-incharge of Maharashtra state unit. Italia lost to Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLA Vinod Moradiya.
Gadhvi, who had contested from the Khambhalia seat in Dwarka and lost to BJP candidate Mulu Bera, had served as the party’s national secretary since June.
The Arvind Kejriwal-led party further bifurcated the state party unit into six zones— Surat, South Gujarat, North Gujarat, Saurashtra, Central Gujarat and Kutch. For each zone, it has appointed working presidents.
Alpesh Kathiria, who joined the party in October along with other Patidar Anamat Andolan Samiti leader Dharmik Malaviya, has been appointed the working president for Surat Zone. Kathiria had contested from Varachha road constituency in Surat district and lost to the saffron party’s candidate Kishor Kanani.
Chaitar Vasava, who was elected from the Dediapada seat in Narmada district, has been appointed as the working president for the South Gujarat zone, Ramesh Patel for the north Gujarat zone, Jagmal Vala for the Saurashtra zone, Jewel Vasra for the central Gujarat zone and Congress-turned-AAP leader Kailash Gadhvi for Kutch zone.
In the 2022 Gujarat elections, AAP won Dediapada, Botad, Visavadar, Jamjodhpur and Gariadhar seats, and winning five seats in the state, the party got the status of a national party.