Meet Surat diamond merchant who barred employees from campaigning for AAP in Gujarat

A diamond businessman in Gujarat has barred his employees from campaigning for the Aam Aadmi Party. The businessman, Dilip Dhapa, meanwhile, has joined the BJP. The Surat-based businessman was inducted into the BJP on Tuesday evening at the party's Gujarat headquarters. 

CR Paatil, the president of the party in Gujarat, welcomed him and said Dhapa had barred his factory employees from doing publicity for the revdi seller's party.

The BJP calls Arvind Kejriwal revdi seller as he has announced several freebies ahead of the Gujarat Assembly elections. 

Isudan Gadhvi, AAP leader in Gujarat, said the BJP was trying to curb the free will of the people of the state.   

"In a democracy, people are free to choose a party they want to vote for. Do you want to turn Gujarat into a gunda-raj by felicitating someone who had snatched people's right to choose and also threatened to sack workers from their jobs?" Gadhvi asked in a tweet.

"From where do you get such a low mentality? On one hand, you cannot give jobs to people. Now, under you, Gujaratis are losing their existing jobs," he claimed.

Kejriwal has announced that his party will provide free electricity up to 300 units per month if AAP forms a government in the state. 

AAP is the only non-Congress, non-BJP party in India to have governments in two states -- Delhi and Punjab.

After winning Punjab earlier this year, the party is now trying to expand its footprints in BJP bastions like Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh. 

Another objective for the party is to replace Congress as BJP's alternative. 

Kejriwal had recently said the Congress was finished in Gujarat and that the fight was between AAP and BJP. 

With inputs from PTI