SURAT: City-based businessman and philanthropist Mahesh Savani joined the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in presence of Delhi deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia on Sunday.
Savani, a diamantaire who later ventured into real estate and is engaged in education too, said that he is not a businessman but someone who believes in doing social work.
“Many people told me I can replicate the work I am doing in Surat across Gujarat if I join politics and get a platform,” Savani told reporters.
Savani, 50, said that he does not identify himself as a person of one community.
“I am somebody who sits with people from all communities and those from lower strata of the society,” he said.
Savani’s entry into AAP ahead of 2022 assembly elections is expected to bolster the party’s strength in Surat where it had won 27 seats in the municipal corporation elections this year/.
In fact, earlier this month, Naresh Patel, president of Shree Khodaldham Trust, had also said that AAP has a chance in Gujarat.
Of the 27 AAP councillors of Surat who were elected during this year’s civic polls are also from Saurashtra Patidar dominated areas.
During the second wave, he had started several community Covid care centres in Surat and later in Saurashtra.
Many AAP members had extended voluntary services at these centres in Surat during the second wave.
“People warned me that if I join AAP, my business and family will be harassed.
But I am not scared as I am doing social work,” he remarked.
Referring to Congress and BJP as two buildings and AAP an empty plot, Savani said, “I could have chosen an 80-year-old building or a 22-year-old building with good elevation for my house but I chose an empty plot where a new foundation for Gujarat will be laid.” Savani, a Leuva Patel with roots in Bhavnagar’s Palitana taluka, is known for conducting mass weddings for fatherless girls from different communities.
Savani was considered to be close to BJP.
During these mass weddings, he has invited former Gujarat chief minister and current governor of Uttar Pradesh Anandiben Patel and Hindu political activist Sadhvi Ritambhara too.
At one of these weddings in November 2014, a Guinness World Record was also created for most people sweeping the same floor which was hailed by local BJP leaders as a step forward in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Swachh Bharat Abhiyaan.
During the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, there was a strong buzz that Savani had sought a ticket from BJP.