Who is Isudan Gadhvi? Know all about AAP's CM candidate

New Delhi, Nov 04: The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Friday named former TV anchor and journalist Isudan Gadhvi its chief ministerial candidate for the next month's Assembly elections in Gujarat. The announcement was made by Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal who said the 40-year-old Gadhvi got as many as 73 per cent votes in a poll conducted by the party.

Gadhvi was pitted against state party unit chief Gopal Italia who played a key role in the Patidar community agitation. Gadhvi hails from a farmers' family in Dwarka district's Pipaliya village and belongs to the other backward castes, which account for 48 per cent of the state's population.

Gadhvi is the National Joint General Secretary of the Aam Aadmi Party and a member of its National Executive. He formerly worked as a media professional and was the editor of VTV News, as well as anchor of popular news show Mahamanthan at VTV Gujarati.

Since his joining active politics, Isudan has become a popular face of AAP in Gujarat and is now selected as the party's candidate for Chief Minister in 2022.

Born on 10 January 1982 in Pipaliya village near Jamkhambhaliya town in Devbhoomi Dwarka district of Gujarat, Isudan Gadhvi graduated with Masters in Journalism and Mass Communication from Gujarat Vidyapeeth in 2005. His father, Kherajbhai Gadhvi, is a farmer by profession.

Early in his career in journalism, Gadhvi worked in a popular Doordarshan show called 'Yojana'. From 2007 to 2011, Gadhvi worked at ETV Gujarati as an on-field journalist in Porbandar. Later, he reportedly exposed a Rs 150 crore scam of illegal deforestration in Dang and Kaparada talukas of Gujarat on his news show, after which the Gujarat government was forced to take action. The incident helped Gadhvi rise to fame and earned him a badge of a fearless journalist.

He joined VTV Gujarati in 2015 as the youngest channel head in Gujarati media. For the next 5 years until 2021, Isudan hosted a popular prime time TV show called 'Mahamanthan' on the state's famous VTV Gujarati channel.

In this program, Gadhvi would not only discuss various issues with the panelists sitting in the studio, but also do a 'phone-in' where he would discuss the same issues with the public and get their views. It became very popular in Gujarat, especially in rural areas. Farmers used to ask for his help for their major and minor issues and in return, Gadhvi would highlight these on his shows.

After quitting his job in the media industry, he was reportedly approached by the BJP, Congress, and AAP.

Political Journey

In June 2021, Gadhvi joined the AAP Party and he is now the CM face of Gujarat election from AAP.

The Delhi chief minister called Gadhvi's joining the AAP as a "huge sacrifice of a promising career to clean the mess that the ruling party, together with the Congress, had created in Gujarat." He added, "Gadhvi has left a plum career for AAP... You can bring a change from outside the system, but there is a limitation to this. So, Gadhvi decided to join the system and clean the mess."

Addressing a press conference at Circuit House in Surat, Gadhvi said,"I joined the media to serve people and the people of Gujarat liked me. I found that by remaining in the media industry, I can serve only a few people, so I left the industry and joined politics so that I can work for large number of people."

Recently in June 2022, ahead of the upcoming assembly elections in Gujarat, the AAP party dissolved its Gujarat unit and reinvigorated it with a new organizational structure, marked by the appointment of Gadhvi, a popular face of the party in Gujarat, as the National Joint General Secretary.