Ajay Kothiyal, ex-Army man, to be AAP's CM candidate in Uttarakhand: Kejriwal

Retired colonel Ajay Kothiyal will be the Aam Aadmi Party’s (AAP) chief ministerial candidate for the Uttarakhand Assembly election slated to be held in 2022. AAP convener and Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal, who is in Dehradun, said Uttarakhand will be developed by AAP as a spiritual capital for Indians living across the world. Kejriwal said AAP will also generate employment to youth if voted to power.

Kejriwal said the decision to pick Kothiyal as the party's CM face was based on the feedback received from people who were fed up with politicians helming the state. "People here want a break from politicians who have only looted the state. They now want an Armyman as CM who will not spend his tenure filling his coffers but serve them," he said at a public rally in the hill town.

On Monday, Kejriwal said that he would visit Uttarakhand the next day and make an important announcement that would turn out to be a milestone in the state’s development.

During an earlier visit in July, Kejriwal, who has been on a campaign spree across states as part of AAP’s attempts to expand its base, had announced 300 units of free electricity to the people of Uttarakhand if the party was elected to power. Speaking about replicating AAP’s Delhi model of governance in Uttarakhand, Kejriwal had said if the party won the Assembly election, it would bring in major change in schools and health infrastructure.

Earlier, the AAP had said it would field Col Ajay Kothiyal from Gangotri if the then chief minister Tirath Singh Rawat contested from that assembly seat.

"BJP ruined Uttarakhand in the last five years. I am fortunate that my party gave me a chance to contest from Gangotri in the bypoll. I have toured several villages of Gangotri. People are very unhappy. I am confident that people will win this time," Col Kothiyal had said in a tweet.

(With agency inputs)